ONE
by djinni14
Summary: What if life as you know it wasn't what you thought it was? What if you found out the truth? And what if people you loved could never find out? Someone is about to find out that it is a lot more complicated than anyone thought. Plus remember just one thing. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! JUST THE ONE! Knowledge is power but it can also be a curse if you let it. -NOW COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**One**

 **Chapter 1**

She arrived in a flash of light. Her first time had been something of a shock and had left her a little shaken. However she was far more used to it now and it no longer fazed her in any way.

As part of her customary things to do, she exposed her left forearm and pressed a series of panels that would effectively render her invisible to anyone who was watching. It wasn't perfect, but unless someone was very attentive, they wouldn't notice.

Next she activated her scanner. Her lead on this location would hopefully work out like all the others. After pressing a few more panels she had a lead on what direction to go. "At least she's within range," Kim muttered to herself. Not every location took her to where she needed to go. She chalked it up to her target moving around since her placement.

Hearing the sudden sound of what to her seemed like a gunshot had her spinning in that direction. Then her interest was piqued when that sound was followed by a countless number of them. Even more interesting was what almost sounded like an explosion followed shortly by another and then another. "What the hell?" It almost sounded like a war, but who used explosives anymore? It had her running toward the noise while looking up as well. Since she was in a wooded area it only took a quick glance to see what she needed. Pulling a device off of her belt, she fired a line up into the tree and heard it hit soundly. In just seconds she was standing on a large branch high up in the tree.

A number of shots later and she was looking down on a large open area. Off to one side there were a substantial group of odd metal and wood things that she didn't recognize and each one was giving off a thunderous sound followed by smoke. She could also see lots and lots of men. They were gathered into groups and each group was in lines. "What are they doing?" It didn't make any sense to her. Then each group started moving forward by walking. It was what was out if front of a few of the groups that had her attention at the moment. She didn't recognize it. Whatever it was there was a man sitting on it and it didn't seem to mind.

Kim wanted answers. "Okay Jill, scan the area and identify."

" _Beginning scan…. The men are wearing gray kepi_ _caps_ _, jacket_ _s_ _, and trousers. Some_ _, though,_ _have a brown dye_ _e_ _mbedded into the fabric. Each is carrying a single weapon consisting of a rifle that is fired using primitive black powder. It is fired when a piece of flint strikes against steel that produces sparks that ignite the priming."_

"You're not serious!?" Kim had never heard of such a thing. She asked another question. "And those big things making noise and smoke?"

" _The barrels are made of bronze and are smooth inside and outside. Each fires a 12 pound ball._ _The_ _barrel is 53 inches long with a bore size of 4.62 inches._ _The unit_ _weighs a total of 788 pounds. They fire a ball that weighs 8.9 pounds. Each is a solid iron ball attached with metal bands to a wooden sabot."_

"Primitive in the extreme." Still Kim was intrigued and continued to observe everything.

She watched as men on the far side fired their weapons that produced the same loud sound followed by a puff of smoke. They continued this for a while and it was killing or injuring a fair number of men who simply continued to walk toward them.

"Are they stupid?" Kim didn't understand. It looked like suicide to her.

Then each side started firing their rifles. "Now what are they doing?" Every man would stop, stuff a rod down the barrel followed by doing it again. "Twice? Is that the black powder?" She watched him use the same rod followed by putting something into the barrel then he put the rod into the barrel again and looked to be forcing it down into the barrel a couple of times. She watched as he fiddled with a section of the rifle. He seemed to intentionally pull on something followed by lifting it up to his shoulder and look down the barrel. This was followed by it exploding with a small puff of smoke. Then he started to repeat the process.

"Seriously?!" Just how stupid were these people? "Jill?" Kim had learned that Jill had a knack for knowing just what she was asking.

" _Two shots per minute appears to be the norm. A 100 meter shot would appear to have a chance at placing each shot within a 2-inch area. However the f_ _a_ _rther out the chance of striking the target diminishes greatly. At the distance most of them are firing, it would take luck to strike anyone."_

"These people are idiots." Kim was sure of that. But she stayed up in her tree and observed for hours.

"Jill?" Kim wanted results of what she had just watched.

" _12,500 men in nine different groups advanced across an open field approximately 3/4 of a mile. It would appear that 52% of the men taking part are either dead or wounded. A small percentage actually managed to make it to the stone wall that the other side is behind."_

"It was a massacre. What is wrong with these people?" Kim didn't understand them. She was well acquainted with how to fight and simply walking across an open field waiting to be killed was just plain stupid.

Jill knew her place and kept her opinions to herself, though she did agree. It was just that these people didn't appear to know not to fight in this manner. It was fighting by attrition. Kill more of them than they do of you.

"Well, as enlightening as this is I need to find her," Kim told herself. She pulled out her device and was soon jumping from tree to tree in the direction that her wrist advised her to go.

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The sun had dropped well below the horizon by the time she was close to her target. "Inside a town, naturally. Why couldn't you be married and living isolated on some farm somewhere?" Kim muttered and pressed a short series of panels on her wrist. It allowed her to zoom in on the location indicated as well as change from normal vision to infrared.

"Are they having a party?" Kim groaned a little deeper. This one was turning out to take up some of her time. She knew this was going to take time, but did it have to take this long?

She rested her back up against her tree and looked out onto the area. It was a small town and all the buildings were single story, which was helpful. It's just that all of the buildings were close together except for a few.

It was her rumbling stomach that got her looking at all of the buildings on the edge. Two of them appeared to be dark so she set her device and lowered herself down to the ground. From her tree she walked toward one of them while scanning with her eyes for any hot spots.

A sudden hot spot in her target building had her freezing in place. She couldn't risk asking Jill so she pushed her jacket back to expose her forearm and pressed a set of panels.

Kim felt her heart beating again as the scan displayed on her arm. "A rat." She drew in a deep breath and couldn't believe that a simple rodent had startled her. After all she had been through to get to here, a stupid rat had given her a small shot of adrenaline.

There was no lock so she entered easily. It was a plain place, very spartan, and it was definitely lived in, though there was no one inside except her rat.

There was some salted meat, potatoes, brown sugar, a little bread and something else that looked like beans. "What are these? ...Jill?" Kim didn't recognize them.

Jill explained the basics. _"You gr_ _i_ _nd the beans into a powder, heat water using a kettle_ _or a_ _pot. Place a cloth filter bag into an empty cup. Slowly pour the hot water into the cup being careful not to overfill your cup. Allow the hot water to steep for about 4 minutes."_

"Coffee, you're talking about coffee. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had real coffee?" Kim couldn't believe the number of places that hadn't found or discovered coffee. She eagerly gathered up the meat, potatoes, sugar, and took every bean she could find. She had her own utensils so had no need of cups or pots to heat water.

"Thank you," Kim said to the empty space, pulling out a weapon and shooting the rat. "You're welcome."

A quick look around and Kim was running for the trees until she thought she was deep enough for no one to see her small fire. She took precautions as she cooked the meat and heated up the potatoes while boiling her water.

"Uhmm...real coffee." Kim felt the hot liquid burn its way down her throat and allowed the after taste to revel in her mouth. "Show me someone who doesn't like coffee and I'll happily shoot them for you." She smiled. "Now if this place just had some real cream, real sugar, and maybe a little something extra." She quashed the idea as fast as she thought it up. She'd had to learn to live without a lot of things and while she hated stealing, she just didn't have the capability to carry that many supplies so she had been forced to look locally everywhere she went.

She did have a home of sorts, it was just that she didn't want to over use it. She didn't know if there was anyone out there trying to stop her, however she figured there was. It was safer to assume that there was.

A pulse on her arm got her attention, so she uncovered her left forearm and pressed a series of panels. "Yes, Jill."

" _I monitored that the building you were just in_ _. It_ _contained a great deal of her DNA. It would be safe to assume that is where she lives."_

"Now you tell me." Kim tilted her head back and rolled her eyes. "You couldn't have told me while I was there?" Kim had learned to love Jill like she was her own sister. Not that she had one, but if she had.

Jill reminded her of her standing order. _"You instructed me not to give your position away by not communicating with you needlessly."_

Kim let her head fall to her chest. "I have a big mouth." She really needed to be more careful about the orders she gave Jill. She modified her standing order. "Fine, I rescind that order. Just try to be careful when and where you contact me."

" _Acknowledged."_

Kim didn't need the sleep and since she knew where her quarry lived, she pressed a series of panels on her arm after putting out her little fire and storing her possessions.

In a brilliant flash of light she disappeared from one location and arrived at a new one. Kim looked around and found it just as she left it. Now all she had to do was wait. So she pressed a series of panels and suddenly the space was softly lit with the miniature 3D figure of a woman. "How many are left?" Kim asked her.

" _Including this one, you have another five to track down. That will complete the dozen that_ _are_ _known."_

Kim already knew about the dozen and she already knew just how many she had found so she already knew how many remained. It simply helped to pass the time to talk with Jill. "I won't ask you again if what I'm doing is right. You'll just tell me what you told me last time," Kim told her. The miniature woman looked unfazed.

Jill confirmed what she was thinking. _"You are correct."_

"Thanks," Kim deadpanned, sitting there waiting. But staying still and quiet just wasn't in her nature. "Any thoughts on where to go next?"

" _Any choice will be a good choice. However if I was given a choice, I would select Alfava Matrixes. It is the seventh planet in the Tundra System in the Garn Belt, and was once the one to the extinct Aplans. It was terraformed in the 49th century and colonized by humans sometime before the 51st century."_

"Okay, I'll bite, why there?" Kim just knew this was going to be good.

" _It's July 3, 1863 on_ _the_ _planet called Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. A primitive time and place. Going to Alfava Matrixes will be several centuries in the future from now. It will be a good change. You'll actually be closer to your own time if not actually in the same galaxy."_ Jill thought it was perfect.

"So your idea is to go from the 18th century to the 51st." Kim didn't believe her. "Have you fractured a few of your connections?" She was convinced that Jill had lost it.

Jill was willing to defend her choice. _"You have a better location in mind?"_

Kim thought about it and opened her mouth to counter her choice. "I can actually go home for a short visit after that." She considered it and began to like it. "Fine, the 51st century it is after this. Program it in and it can be my next jump." Kim was in.

Jill silently programmed herself and started downloading everything she had on the planet and that century for later. _"OH CRAP! KIM IS SO GOING TO KILL ME!"_ Jill hadn't looked it up and done any research on the planet. _"Yeah, definitely going to kill me."_ _Regardless,_ _Jill completed the progra_ _m_ _ming. It happen_ _ed_ _that this planet wasn't anything like what it sounded like. "I'm so dead, so very dead."_

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Kim was on her third cat nap when Jill alerted her to movement at the target location. It had her snapping her head around and focusing on the building. The sun was just coming up. "Where have you been all night?" Kim questioned, knowing she was likely never going to find out and that was okay with her. Where she had been wasn't a priority. The woman was the priority.

By the time she had entered the building Kim had been forced to switch from infrared to normal vision. "Best get this over with so I can move on." She was starting to look forward to visiting her home. To just relax and not have to do this day after day.

Using her device she quickly lowered herself to the ground and scanned the surrounding area. Finding very little movement, she checked her systems to make sure they were working properly and started walking to the target building.

A small group of men on horseback were all dressed in soft blue uniforms and each was carrying one of those ancient weapons. While the weapon itself didn't concern her that much – after all its accuracy was poor – it was possible that fortune could work for her or against her. Just one of them might get off a lucky shot and ruin everything or at least something.

Kim waited until they were out of sight before continuing to the target building. She found it unlocked as expected. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly she opened the door quickly, stepped inside, and closed it just as quickly.

"Is someone there?" a soft female voice called out. God but that voice sounded so familiar. Like the others, the sound of her voice always got her. Still Kim turned her emotions to steel. It had to be done, it just had to.

She watched her step out of what she knew was the small bedroom. She was barely dressed. Her hair was long and just a little curly. Kim could remember a time when she kept her hair long. Unfortunately, long hair was now a luxury. It got in the way so her hair was short. A boy cut short. A little long on the top of her head though cut very short in back.

It was a time where there were no bras so she could tell that she wasn't wearing one. Even her breasts were a match for hers. So were her long legs.

"Is someone there?" she called out and looked around the room. As expected Kim saw her eyes land on where she was standing. Her invisibility system wasn't perfect. By its very nature there were lines or edges that showed up if you were careful enough to notice them.

Kim watched her mouth fall open and then it moved like she was going to ask a question, but she closed it.

Kim lifted her arm and ran a scan of her. She was unarmed and Kim knew that her training would be more than enough to counter anything she did so she used her other hand and pressed a short series of panels.

Kim heard her suck in a breath when Kim came into view as the invisibility disappeared in a cascade-like event starting from the device on her arm. It allowed her to see exactly who was here.

Kim watched her open and close her mouth like a fish. She just knew that her mind was racing. "Who..." Kim knew what she meant. Who was she and yet knew who she was. It was just like the others.

"I don't expect you to understand. It's just that I can't allow you to exist. There can be only one. They stole from me and I can't allow that." Kim pressed a short series of panels on her arm. This allowed the weapon that was stored on a similar panel that was attached to her back to rise up to her shoulder and point at her. It was obvious that she recognized a weapon when she saw one.

"NO, PLEASE. You don't have to do this." Her life might not be perfect but it was hers and she was doing the best that she could.

Kim had no intention of saying she was sorry since she wasn't. Otherwise she couldn't do this.

Kim used her contact to focus her shot on her heart and fired. A brilliant blue light in the shape of a dart erupted form her weapon and even before either of them could blink it struck her chest and literally blew a hole in her chest. A hole about the size of a baseball.

The look of shock remained on her face with the word, _"_ _W_ _hy?"_ frozen on her lips. The woman was dead before her body hit the floor.

Kim didn't feel sorry for her. She stowed her weapon, walked over to her body, and knelt down. As expected the shot had cauterized the wound so that there was little to no blood evident.

She pressed a few panels and ran her arm over the body and looked at the results. Her eyes opened wide since this was a first for her. " **SHIT!**...You're pregnant." She hadn't just killed her, she'd killed a baby. She pressed another series of panels and ran her hand over the body again.

"Several different DNA types are present." This confused her at first. Then Kim came to the realization of how so many different DNA strands could be present. She put 2 plus 2 together. "You're a prostitute. That's why you have been gone all day."

"I'm sorry, little one, I really am. It's just that your mommy shouldn't even exist." Kim steeled her thoughts over having killed an unborn innocent. She couldn't afford to let a dead unborn baby from affecting her. She couldn't allow herself to question what she did if she even knew the woman was pregnant. Kim also couldn't afford to question if she herself would ever be pregnant. Besides you had to have sex first before you could be pregnant. Well, it was the standard method and she hadn't had sex in what felt like a long time.

Kim pressed a short series of panels and withdrew a small vial from the mechanical arm that came from the panel on her back. She opened it and poured the bright blue liquid that actually glowed over the body. She stood there and watched as the liquid dissolved the body completely leaving behind what little clothing the woman had been wearing.

She pressed a series of panels and ran her arm over the space where the body used to be and studied the results. Just like the others it left no trace of DNA. It was like she had never physically existed.

Kim could do nothing about the lives of people she had touched and that wasn't the point. Was someone going to miss her? Was there someone who loved her? None of that mattered. All that mattered was that the DNA had been destroyed.

"There can be only one," Kim told the empty space quietly as she pressed a series of panels on her arm. In a blinding flash of white light, Kim vanished; in another blinding flash of white light arrived at her new location.

It was time to get started on finding the next one before taking a short break.


	2. Chapter 2

**One**

 **Chapter 2**

Kim growled Jill's name after arriving in her new location.

" _I am_ _sorry about this. I neglected to do any research on this place before I told you. I_ _ **am**_ _sorry."_ Jill tried her best to sound contrite and truly sorry; she even lowered her voice at the end.

"You're lucky I still have a few beans of coffee from the last place or it might force me to make a side trip just to get some. So…talk to me." Kim couldn't stay mad at Jill for long no matter what she did or couldn't do.

" _Aflava Matrixes. It really is a colony world that was established in the 49th Century by terraformists and their families. The colonists showed up in the 51st Century after the planet had completed be_ _ing_ _terraformed_ _,_ _"_ Jill began while Kim pressed a series of panels on her arm and started looking around.

" _It was not long after this occurred that an alien arrived. He proceeded to utilize the technology that the colonists had to create the equipment that he needed. He then spent several years slowly changing the colonists."_

"Changed them? Explain, change to what?" Kim had never even heard of this place, at least not that she could remember.

" _It might be more accurate to say that several of the colonists had been upgraded."_ Jill waited for it and started counting softly.

"Upgraded? Oh hell, you have _**got**_ to be shitting me." Now she knew this planet and hung her head until her chin touched her chest.

" _I am sorry."_ Jill was ashamed for not doing the research first.

"Swell…Cybermen," Kim groaned. "The original versions or the upgraded version?" She wanted to know what she was up against.

" _The upgraded version_ _,_ _unfortunately. Also in this time frame it is possible that all of the original colonists have been upgraded. There is no telling if the target has been captured and upgraded or not. It is possible that she is in hiding and is still human. While it is possible that there is a small resistance group, I would n_ _o_ _t bank on it."_

Kim simply groaned at her predicament. "One human on a planet that might be filled with Cybermen. They really know how to pick them." She'd long since learned to hate the company and the people that had done this to her.

She had liked her life. She had even had a boyfriend that she cared about. Granted they hadn't gone out on many dates but he had shown promise. She knew he would never understand and might have even tried to talk her out of it. She had been convinced that her parents would never understand. They hadn't really liked her choice of careers. Even in her time woman who did her kind of job were not that prevalent. She was well known and that might have actually been why she had been selected. Though she had never really found out why or exactly who had done this to her.

"Okay, let's see if we can find a trace of her." Kim pressed a short series of panels on her arm.

"Minor traces…nothing definite. It's likely she's in hiding and rarely comes out," Kim theorized based on what little she knew.

"Okay, plot me a path to the closest larger city. If she's in hiding, it's probable she's underground. Subway, basements, tunnels maybe. A city might have enough left over food for her to scavenge since Cybermen don't eat or drink. This should be fun." Kim rolled her eyes; she thought it was going to be anything but.

She pressed a series of panels on her arm and felt her weapon on her back rise to just over her shoulder not far from her left ear. That ear held an ear plug that helped deaden the sound of her weapon and kept out the blast wave of it firing.

It was automatic and functioned only when needed. The other times she could use a series of panels on her arm to increase its ability to increase what she could hear. Another series of panels could be used to convert what she heard into her language. Helpful for when people tried to hide what they were saying, thinking you didn't understand them. Especially helpful on alien planets that didn't begin to speak a language that she understood.

Another series of panels and Kim became as invisible as she was going to get. What she didn't know was how effective it was going to be against Cybermen. The damn things were dangerous.

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The area was almost free of trees or even mountains. It was nothing but low rolling hills. It was one of these hills that Kim had just crested. "SHIT!" Kim looked down onto what was a small town. She could see the buildings, houses, and even parks or at least a hint of. It was also filled with Cybermen. "You better not be in there, damn it." She lifted her arm, touched a short series of panels, and waited a moment. "Of course you are." Kim let her head fall to her chest. It couldn't get any worse could it.

Of course it chose that moment to do just that. Since her left ear held the insert because of her weapon, that was the ear that she heard the sound. It was the sound of metal hitting concrete in a rhythmic fashion. It had her turning her head to look off to one side.

On the road as they came up over a small rise was a set of six Cybermen marching toward town. "As if there weren't enough of them already." Kim couldn't believe her luck. She warned Jill of the tongue lashing was going to give her. "We're going to have a long talk."

" _We had to come here eventually_ _,_ _"_ Jill reminded her, hoping that she would see the truth. Kim got it; she just didn't have to like it. An additional problem was that Kim felt exposed out here on this road. A road that was totally clear of any debris.

"I know that the Cybermen don't need transportation but where is what the colonists would have used?" Kim finally noticed that there was nothing. Not even leftover rusted-out hulks. Still it wasn't that important, just a curiosity of this place. "We're still going to talk about this after it's over, Jill." Kim hadn't forgotten that coming here next had been her idea.

Jill knew better than to say something so she remained quiet…for a moment. _"I have intercepted a message. Those six Cybermen have been alerted that there is an unknown power source in their area. The location coincides with our location."_

"How?" Kim didn't see how that was possible. "You and what I'm carrying." Her invisibility worked on the visual spectrum. It didn't hide everything including all of the power it took to use it.

" _Likely an accurate assumption. The closer we get to the city the more_ _probable_ _it is that they will be better able to triangulate our position."_

Kim decided on a course of action and singled out the six Cybermen that were now headed her direction. She already had her weapon activated. She simply used her contact to single them out and fire quick six shots that blew holes in their heads. The result, of course, was six dead Cybermen.

Next she exposed her upper forearm and touched a series of panels. This deactivated her weapon and brought down her invisibility.

" _What are you doing?"_ Jill didn't like whatever Kim was thinking.

"If they can see the power then we need to use less as we enter the city," Kim informed her and started smiling.

" _And be captured by Cybermen_ _,_ _end_ _ing_ _up_ _with_ _you being upgraded. Not to mention what they will do with me."_ Jill was beginning to think that Kim had a few loose screws of her own.

"Captured, precisely." Kim kept walking and was smiling even wider.

" _My apologies, but have you lost your mind? How do you plan on accomplishing your mission if you are a Cyberman?"_ Jill couldn't stop her but she **could** question her sanity.

"Being captured will get me deeper into the city. With an escort that thinks they can easily overpower me. All the way to their center you will be scanning for any of her DNA. Then we shoot our way to her, kill her, and jump for home." Kim liked her plan even more, especially when it kept Jill quiet for a time.

Jill actually did use up some of her processing capacity to analyze her plan and work up the odds of its success. She was still working on that when she spotted something. _"There are four Cybermen headed right for us. An intercept of their communications indicates that they have reported that they have spotted a human and are being ordered to take it to the processing center for upgrading."_

Kim simply smiled and kept walking.

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Kim liked that her plan was working out perfectly even if her skin was crawling. Being this close to Cybermen was very unnerving. Thankfully Jill was keeping silent since she just knew what she was thinking of all this.

" _You have lost your mind!"_ came to mind as to what Jill would be saying. Still she was being walked deep into the city and they were passing a lot of Cybermen along the way. Cybermen she would likely have to kill to get even this far.

While her weaponry was more than a match for a Cyberman, if they got off a shot, she would be toast. She had Jill and what was on her back. What she didn't have was any kind of armor.

She knew where it was. Unfortunately it was on the other side of a door that she had never been through and the entire building was under heavy guard. She'd considered having armor a luxury that she could do without. Right now she was thinking having armor just might have been worth the risk.

"Where are we going?" They just kept walking and walking.

" **You will be upgraded** **,** " was the reply she got.

"What if I think that I'm already superior to you?" Kim sniped back.

" **You are inferior and will be upgraded** **,** " it answered.

"I think your programming is inferior, which makes you inferior, actually. You should look into being upgraded yourself," Kim responded.

One of them opened a door to a building. " **You will enter.** "

"Oh no, you first. I insist." Kim motioned for her friend to go first.

" **You will enter or be destroyed.** " It raised its arm and pointed the weapon that was attached to it at her. " **You will enter and be upgraded.** "

"Fine, but you could work on your people skills. They need a lot of work," Kim relented and headed inside.

" **Feelings are inferior. Once upgraded you will have no need of them.** " The metal man lowered his arm and followed Kim inside where there was a wall of machines that people would stand in front of and be upgraded along with a number of other Cybermen.

" **You will enter the stall and prepare to be upgraded** **,** " one of the new Cybermen ordered and indicated one of the empty spaces.

Kim looked around and in total there were now eight Cybermen. She reached for her forearm to activate her weapon when Jill interrupted her. _"The Cyberman at the activating device is your target."_

That had Kim snapping her head around to look. That Cyberman looked just like all the others. "You were captured and upgraded!" She hadn't even thought of that and kicked herself for not really considering it.

" **You will enter or be destroyed** **,** " the Cyberman informed her once again and raised his arm to reinforce his point.

"My friend here has suggested that he be upgraded first. His programming is out of date." Kim insisted and turned to look at her friend while pushing the panels on her arm. This caused her weapon to raise up. She looked at the Cyberman pointing his weapon at her and fired at him. The shot blew his head off. Kim quickly spun in place and used her contact to tag each Cyberman in the room and fired at each of them. It only took a couple of seconds; eight dead Cybermen were lying at her feet.

Kim walked over to the one Jill had pointed out. "This one?"

" _Correct, most of her DNA is located in what is left of her head. Everything else has been upgraded."_

She huffed a breath and began pressing a series of panels. Then she used her weapon to cut the head open to expose the brain. That was followed by cutting open other body parts to find all of the DNA. "No body parts at all, just the brain. YUK!" The idea disgusted her. "Let's get this over with, shall we?" She touched a series of panels, took the vial filled with a blue liquid, and poured all of it over the brain.

It only took a few seconds for all of the brain to be destroyed. Kim pressed another series of panels and ran a scan to verify that she had gotten all of the DNA.

"One more thing then we can go," Kate said to herself while informing Jill. She pushed a series of panels and took the small cube that was given to her off her back.

" _You're sure you want to do this?"_

"Destroy this station? You better believe it." Why was Jill questioning the destruction of their ability to upgrade other people?

" _Be advised that the power to this place is fed from an artificial singularity. It is_ _probable_ _that destroying it while one of the units is active will cause a feedback. The resulting explosion will destroy most, if not all of this city."_

"Destroy the entire city and every Cyberman inside it. I'm liking this plan more and more. Begin scanning on how to activate one of the units while I attach the device and set it," Kim instructed her.

It only took a minute for her to place the device and set if for activation. "Jill?" She was ready so Jill had better be as well.

Two minutes later and Kim was looking around the place. "Goodbye." She pressed a series of panels and in a bright flash she disappeared.

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"There's no place like home." Kim looked around and saw that all the glass doors were still closed as she had left them.

"First things first." She walked past both building and past the pool over to a small building and went inside. Inside she activated all of the power and activated the filtration system. It would take a little time for the pool water to be filtered and ready for swimming, but she had other things to keep her busy.

With the power on and the pool working, she moved over to the water filtration and got it started. Unlike the pool she would be able to use the water for drinking almost instantly.

Next she went to the closest building, unlocked the door, and started pushing the glass panels off to one side. This exposed the only bedroom and living room to the pool patio. It would only take a few minutes for the air to be exchanged. Then she moved over to the other building and did the same thing. This building housed the kitchen, dining room, washer and dryer, and bathroom. Like the other building, the air would be freshened in moments.

"Now what's first?" Kim looked around. "Coffee followed by a change of clothes, and maybe even a shower." She smiled widely at the thought of all of it.

She started the coffee, walked to the bedroom, shed all of her clothes, then threw them in the hamper. Now naked, she moved toward the bathroom to take a shower. Grabbing a towel and she was ready to feel like a new person.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Finding her kitchen almost empty of food and other supplies had forced her to find something to wear and make a jump to a far away planet in a time several centuries behind her.

She dropped her grocery bag on the counter and started putting everything away, leaving only the cheese and crackers out along with the bottle of wine.

A quick trip to strip in the bedroom and she was back. With a towel in hand and her snack and drink, she headed for the pool area. It had just the spot. She walked across the walkway out into the pool area and then down the stairs. Down there was a circular seating area that had a fire pit in the middle. Surrounding it was the pool. A quick flick of the switch and the fire pit lit up and burned brightly.

Still nude, she sat down on the cushions and set her goodies on the bench that was between her and the fire pit. "This is the life." She relaxed, leaned back, and popped a cracker topped with cheese in her mouth.

" _You are going to get burned staying out here and you didn't buy any sunscreen or lotion for your sunburn."_

"Don't ruin my moment. Let me enjoy my cheese and wine and at least one glass of wine before I'm forced to get dressed and go get those things. Isn't it peaceful and beautiful here?" Kim spread her arms and looked around.

Her little place, such as it was, was all alone on a tropical island that only saw quick storms roll through. It generated its own power, provided water, and a safe place to stay.

The few trees that were here were spread out all over the island while the rest of the island had low bushes and grasses. It stayed around 75 to 80 degrees year round. All the other islands around or near it were tiny so no one was interested in developing the area. It was also off the beaten path. No transportation came anywhere near there unless they wanted to come there on purpose.

"Don't you just love it here?" Kim asked Jill. "Never mind, don't answer that." She was sure that Jill would remind her that she didn't have a body and couldn't feel or really see or smell any of it.

"A week or two and then we can get back to work. It'll give you that time to choose the next place. And this time do the research. I find it filled with Cybermen and I'll drop you in the middle of the closest volcano," Kim threatened.

They both knew her threat was worthless. Kim would never get rid of Jill no matter what the situation was.


	3. Chapter 3

**One**

 **Chapter 3**

Kim was enjoying her break. Currently she was floating naked in the pool after the sun had set. Who needed a swim suit when it was just her? To see her, one would think she was a dead woman floating in a pool that had a beautiful look to it. The ambiance was something that had to be seen to be fully appreciated.

Her lounge area was built out into the pool. It had a fire pit and the circular walls of the lounge area went down to the bottom of the pool. Where it met the floor of the pool was a single band of blue light that provided most of the light in the pool. The steps leading down to the lounge had a blue light in each riser. Off to either side there were steps leading down into the pool proper. Both of these also had a blue light in each riser.

Just beyond were the two pods. The walls facing the pool were all glass panels that folded away. The other three walls were made of some type of concrete material. The roofs over each were made of thatch that created a bump over each building.

Between the two buildings but still close to the pool was a raised planter made of the same concrete material. It housed one of the few trees this island had. It also had the same blue light that ringed the bottom.

It was peaceful right up until Jill sent a shock to her arm. "OW!" That had Kim standing up and looking around, all set to give Jill a piece of her mind until she saw that all four monitors in the living room were lit up. She swam to one of the set of steps, picked up her towel, and walked into the living room to look at her monitors. One showed what happened a moment ago, while another showed what she would be interested in. The other showed the planet she was on and the fourth showed her planet and what had arrived.

"A Xindi destroyer? What's that thing doing here? They're a long ways from home." Kim looked at the monitor that showed it bursting into the system using its FTL drive then her eye went to where it was in relationship to her planet.

"Fun's over. Kill all the power, Jill. Let's see if they just want to look." Kim suddenly found herself in the dark. She had meant kill all the power except for the monitors, but Jill had done what she had been asked. "Not the monitors, Jill. I kind of need to see where it is going," Kim said to the ceiling and saw the monitors were turned back on just as quickly.

"A Marauder class, unless I'm mistaken." It had been part of her security job to know everything about the company's potential enemies, and since the company held a number of mines on asteroids, it required her to know all she could.

" _You are correct_ _. I_ _t has been designed as an overall attack ship capable of launching a number of different missiles based on the target. They are known to carry_ _p_ _lasma_ _-_ _based warheads. While a little outdated, they are still capable of doing a fair amount of damage."_

Kim watched the destroyer as it made its way to one of the gas giants while drying herself with her towel. "There's nothing over there. None of the moons of that gas giant are habitable. You would need a dome to live on any of them." She was becoming more and more curious as she watched.

The destroyer had settled into a high orbit, but its placement was strangely different.

Then Jill put up an alert on one of the monitors. "A Proctor destroyer. …Interesting." Kim watched it move into the system while keeping an eye on the other one. "Last I knew you two didn't like each other," she murmured as she watched the new one follow the path of the first one.

" _You are correct. In this time they are both enjoying a short cease fire while each licks its wounds. It will be_ _just_ _a few years before they take up their dispute yet again."_

"Couldn't they hate each other somewhere else? I'm on vacation." Kim moaned then growled when the Proctor made a course correction. "Not that way, not that way!" She crossed her arms just under her breasts and made a decision. She was all set to inform Jill when Jill showed her another event. "Another Xindi destroyer. Knowing the Xindi, I'm betting these two are brothers. Jill, fire up the generators and build up power in the capacitors. It appears as though we're going to be involved in their dispute."

Jill silently agreed and activated the generators that started sending power to the capacitors for storage. _"100% power in three minutes."_

"Looks like we're going to need to be quick. Drain the pool and activate the weapon." Kim listened to the gurgle of the pool water being drained away followed by the weapon being extended up from below the pool.

She watched the Proctor ship spot the Xindi ships and suddenly accelerate toward her planet.

" _Trajectory suggests a sling shot for the Proctor ship. One Xindi ship is powering to follow while the other Xindi is powering for an identical sling shot_ _,_ _only on the opposite side of the planet."_

Kim wanted to hit all three ships in order to secure her hiding place. But the maneuvers they were making wouldn't allow her to shoot them when she wanted.

"Target the second Xindi ship while it's still in range and fire when 80% charge is reached."

A few seconds later the entire area was lit up by a brilliant white light as the weapon fired. It looked like a glowing comet with a white tail trailing behind. Kim followed the trajectory of the shot. "Power up to 80% minimum and fire on the Proctor ship when ready."

It felt like forever as the weapon built up power, when suddenly the space was lit up by another bright light as the weapon fired yet again. Just as it did, the first shot reached and struck the Xindi ship.

By its very nature her shots didn' have the speed however what they lacked in speed they made up for in striking power.

The weapon was state of the art for her time and required a large amount of power to fire. Kim, though, couldn't get her hands on that kind of power so she had selected to use a smaller power source that would send its power to a series of capacitors that would store the necessary power for a short time. The major drawback was that it took a little time to build up the power for a 100% shot.

The Xindi ship blew up spectacularly as did the Proctor ship when it was hit.

"Power up to 80% and fire on the remaining Xindi ship when ready."

Minutes later she watched as the remaining Xindi ship blew up in equally spectacular fashion. "Scan the area for escape pods as well as follow each piece of wreckage. I don't want any of that crap hitting my home. …And turn the lights back on." Kim left the monitors and headed for the bathroom. She actually ran the last couple of feet and threw up into the toilet.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

" _You alright?"_ Jill was a little concerned for her.

"Yes…no…I don't know. I can kill her but I just killed hundreds if not a few thousand life forms. Granted those two races are universally frowned on, but they're still dead." Kim chugged her drink down in an attempt to kill the taste in her mouth. "They're only dead because they were unlucky enough to arrive here when I'm here." If she hadn't been here they would simply have fought against each other.

"Was what I did so wrong? I couldn't let them find my place. It's the only peaceful place that I have. What would I turn myself into if I didn't have it?" Kim really didn't want an answer to that question. It frightened her too much.

Jill chose to ignore the topic. _"I am monitoring that the majority of the pieces will burn up on reentry. However there are a few pieces that will strike the planet. None appear to be headed in this direction. I also did not monitor any broadcasts leaving the system."_

"Now that I'm in a foul mood, might as well leave the pool drained and prepare to leave." Kim made sure her cup was dry and cleaned up. Then she headed for the bedroom to get dressed.

"Where are we going anyway?" They were down to just four so the choices were fewer.

" _Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy."_ Jill noticed that Kim stopped in her tracks.

"Earth! …Again? Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Kim was human and as a result so were all of her targets. "Okay, now for the big question – when?" She was relatively certain she wasn't going to like the answer.

" _June 2011 in New York City. It is part of the state of New York that makes up the United States of America."_

"Well at least they speak English. How heavily populated is this New York City?" She wanted to know what to expect.

" _It is a densely populated city of 8.248 million people. The section of Manhattan is filled with a number of high_ _-_ _rise buildings. The buildings f_ _a_ _rther out are older and shorter. Actually housing is outside of this area for the most part. Violent crime is presently at 0.6% higher th_ _a_ _n it was at this time last year."_

"Okay, so invisibility may not be the best option for this trip." It had Kim searching her closet for a different set of clothes.

She stood in front of her mirror and touched a short series of panels on her wrist after making her selection. "How about this?" She looked at herself and twisted in place to look herself over. She watched as Jill changed what the suit she was wearing displayed.

" _Blouses of the time focused on billow_ _y_ _sleeves with fl_ _air_ _and have a pussy bow, frilled fronts, or peasant smock necklines. Trousers have a widened, flared, palazzo pant that flow all the way down to the shoes."_

Kim fiddled with the puffy long sleeves and looked at the high rise bright red pants. "Red? Really, Jill?" Did she really want to stand out? It made her think there was a bullseye on her that said, "Shoot me."

" _Bright colors are in at this time of year. You should see some of the other options."_ Jill was all set to adjust what the suit displayed.

Kim raised both hands. "No thanks, this will do. I can just change it later. What else?" Surely there was more to it than this. The next thing she knew she had jewelry around her neck and something on her wrist. She actually sort of liked it as she kept looking at it.

"Let's get moving." Kim began closing all of the glass doors before moving to the small building and killing all the power manually.

Once back outside she looked around. It looked like no one had been there in a long time. Even the pool didn't have any water in it. "Let's get started." She pushed a short series of panels and vanished in a brilliant flash of light then arrived in an equally brilliant flash of light.

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The first thing she noticed was the stench. "This place reeks!" Kim held a finger up to her nose to try and block the smell. Looking around she saw the reason for the smell. She was standing in an alley next to an open and overflowing garbage bin.

The next thing she noticed was the noise. "What is that?" It had her looking up and down the alley and saw on one end that it was filled with a type of transportation. Walking that way got her away from the trash at least.

Just as she reached the street one of the guys leaned his head out the window of the transportation unit and yelled, and then pressed his hand on what was in front of him several times. In each case a loud sound was produced. This was followed by several more from other locations.

"It stinks out here," she muttered and raised her finger back up to her nose. She looked up and down the street. It was filled with several of what she took to be transportation machines. "These things stink, too." Kim watched as all of them were emitting smoke from the back.

"How do people breathe on this planet?" Then she watched as what she was sure was a wave of people were walking toward her. She looked behind her and saw the sidewalk was empty.

However, there was another wave of people on the other side of the street walking toward her.

"Right…time to leave." Kim decided to start walking away from the wave and kept looking over her shoulder to see if they were gaining on her.

But then she came to an intersection and found that the entire intersection was filled with the same machines. The area was filled with noise and foul smells. Looking up and down each street showed that it was filled as far as the eye could see.

"What's going on?" Kim didn't get any of this.

Looking back the way she had come all she saw was a wave of people headed her direction. There was something off about the group though. They were all well-dressed, even to her way of thinking. Plus they were all young. Well younger than her.

Kim tried to find a bright side to all of this. "At least they aren't Cybermen."

She couldn't help it. "Jill?!" What was wrong with these people? She just knew there had to be something.

" _All of the yellow machines are called_ _t_ _axis. You pay them to take you somewhere else. There are a large number of people still exiting a large building down the street you came from. Have you tried to look at the people in the machines?"_

That had Kim looking into several of the closest yellow machines. Each was filled with mostly young people that were well-dressed. Not all of them but a lot of them.

She braced herself as the wave started to catch up to her. She placed her fingers on her left forearm. If she really had to she would jump to get away from being attacked. Kim was never going to admit it, but she hated crowds. She didn't used to that she could remember. It was just that she hated this one.

Kim was still waiting for it, whatever _IT_ was. " **OH MY GOD!** " a voice called out; hearing that, Kim turned to look. What she saw was a small group of young women walking toward her. They all seemed to have been talking at the same time.

" **DETECTIVE BECKETT!** "Suddenly one of them with long, slightly orange hair split off from the group and ran right at her. The petite woman slammed into her and hugged her tight. "Oh my god, it's really you." Her voice sounded so excited. Her face was full of surprise and something Kim couldn't quite understand.

Alexis titled her head, staring at the detective. "What's going on, Detective?" Kate looked very different. Her hair was much shorter and she was dressed in clothing that was definitely not her usual style.

"Alexis?" One of the woman this one had been walking was questioning her.

"This is… I mean, she's supposed to be…" Suddenly her face looked like she had an answer. "Are you...I mean, have I… I'm so sorry." It looked to Kim like the young woman had just gotten her killed and the look of pain on her face was pronounced.

She brightened and Kim had to admit that she was lovely when she looked like that. "You can come with us. We'll protect you and hide you. Come on, guys, gather round, we need to hide her," Alexis said to all the friends she was with.

Next thing Kim knew she was surrounded by young women except the one named Alexis who had wrapped an arm around hers.

"Where to, Lex?" one of them asked. Kim noticed that Alexis hadn't thought this through and was at a loss for an answer.

Alexis was convinced that Kate was hiding for some reason. Running into her was an accident. If she was in hiding she couldn't expose her. What she wanted to do was take her home. Her dad would have a heart attack and maybe actually get out of the funk he was in. She knew Kate meant a lot to him; it was just that she hadn't really known how much before. She came up with a plan. "Sophie's. We can take the train like we were intending to."

"Then we need to move before everyone else gets to the station first, if it isn't already too late. Let's go, ladies," one of them announced. Suddenly Kim found herself being escorted by a group of five young women not including the one that was attached to her.

"So who's your friend?" one of the women inquired.

"She's…she's special and we need to keep her safe." Alexis was bewildered by Kate's sudden appearance and was full of questions. Just that she couldn't ask them here. She wasn't even sure she could ask them at Sophie's.

Alexis was already trying to figure out how to get her dad to Sophie's or if that was even a good idea. If Kate was in hiding, judging by her new hair cut and the clothes she was wearing, taking her to the loft might be out. "Someplace private maybe," Alexis said to herself.

"Lex?" One of her friends had heard her and Alexis kicked herself for talking out loud.

"We need to avoid cameras…and the police." Alexis suddenly saw a pair of officers and started to turn, getting her friends to turn with her.

"Duck!" Alexis called out, pulling Kim down as the others crowded in close and kept walking.

Soon Kim was standing in a metal box that had seats and poles and they were all standing close together. She had never felt so lost and so confused. She was here to kill someone and yet she had found a person who thought she was someone else and was doing all she could to help her.

"It's all good, guys. Thanks," Alexis told the others.

"We're happy to help, Alexis." One of them hugged her.

"Just so long as you tell us what's going on eventually," another commented which had all of them giggling. Everyone except Kim. She was conflicted. This trip wasn't turning out to be anything she had been expecting. Maybe she should have gone invisible after all. This was just weird. Having someone besides Jill care about her was different.


	4. Chapter 4

**One**

 **Chapter 4**

 _My mistake was posting chapter 15 by mistake as being chapter 3. You will need to go back to chapter 3 and read it._

 _My apologies for the mistake._

 _000000_

They had all left just after reaching where this Sophie apparently lived. "Thanks guys, I owe you for this." Alexis hugged each of them.

"Just tell us later what's going on, Lex," one of them requested.

"As soon as I can," Alexis replied, not exactly sure just what was going on herself.

Kim had to admit that for a place to hide out, being on the 23rd floor of a high-rise meant people were going to have trouble reaching her in a conventional way.

Kim was standing in the living room and she noticed that the decor was to her taste. White tile floors, simple furniture with crisp lines, white walls and ceiling. She even liked the funky looking chandelier hanging in the dining room over a glass table. She was still surveying the space when Alexis and Sophie came back. "We're in luck; my mom and dad are still gone. If they're in the same area we were, they won't be home till tomorrow." Sophie appeared to be happy about that and even Alexis had started giggling.

"Kate, come sit." Kim found herself being guided into the living room and made to sit next to Alexis. "What happened? Why are you here? Do you have any idea what it did to my dad? He's been moping and won't do anything." Alexis was fresh out of ideas to get her dad to live again.

"Who is Kate?" Kim decided on a plan of action with these two. If they thought she looked like this Kate person, maybe they could provide her a lead at finding her.

Alexis had been dreaming up all kinds of things over what had happened, however this wasn't one of them. "What?" Alexis didn't know what to say.

"She sort of does look like Kate. I mean I've only ever seen her in pictures in the paper. You're sure she's Kate, Alexis?" Sophie had gone along with all of this because Alexis was a friend.

"Yes. I mean, ignoring the short hair, she looks exactly like her. I don't understand." Alexis switched back and forth from looking at Kim and Sophie.

"Amnesia! That must be it. …She was shot after all." Alexis was looking at Sophie and missed seeing Kim snap her head to look at Alexis.

Eyes wide, thoughts flew through Kim's mind. _**"SHOT!" Was her target already dead? Now what did she do**_ _ **?**_ _ **She needed confirmation and**_ _ **to**_ _ **eliminate any remaining DNA.**_

"You don't remember." Alexis had turned back to look at Kim. "Oh god, that means you don't remember my dad either." All of her hopes at reaching her dad just went up in smoke.

"Where are you staying?" Alexis asked Kim who decided to just stare back at her as an answer. "You have to be staying somewhere. They wouldn't have just released you."

"Witness protection!" Sophie blurted out after she had what she thought was a revelation.

Alexis closed her eyes briefly and sighed out a long breath. It answered so many questions. But it left her with one big one.

"Please, Kate, don't pretend with us. Dad loves you. You don't know what he's been like since you were shot." Alexis collapsed into herself. "He's shut himself off from everyone. I can't get him to do anything. He just wanders around in his pajamas. He doesn't even try to write anymore. I'm not even sure what he's eating." Alexis had no idea how to reach him. Kate was her best hope. She just didn't know what to do now.

"OH, LEX!" Sophie reached out to take one of Alexis's hands. "You could have told us, we're your friends." Sophie felt bad over what her friend's life had been like at home. "At least we got you to come out and see that show." It sounded like Alexis needed a break from home life.

"I don't know what to do now." If Kate didn't even know who she was, how was she supposed to help her with her dad?

"Can you get your dad out of the house? My parents are gone and I don't know when they will get back." Sophie didn't know how else to help her friend.

"I…YES! I'll get Grams to help me." She was willing to do anything it took. Alexis turned to Kate. "Don't move, don't even think of leaving before I can get dad here. Please! Promise me." This might be her last shot at reaching her dad. This just had to work.

"She'll be here, even if I have to tie her to a chair," Sophie said determinedly.

Kim knew she could leave if she wanted to and neither of these two stood any chance of stopping her. What she really needed to do was find her target or what was left of her, and these two might help her accomplish that. Besides, how bad could her dad be?

"Thanks, Soph." Alexis hugged her at the door. "Don't let her escape." Alexis needed for this to work.

"She'll be here, Lex, I promise." Sophie was going to keep that promise for her friend.

Sophie locked the door and turned back to face her guest. She had a few questions of her own.

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"DAD!" Alexis yelled the second she shot through the door into the loft. She didn't see him which was no surprise. She knew where he would be but she'd hoped for better.

"Dad." Alexis dropped her purse on the kitchen counter and pulled out her phone. It was time to call in reinforcements. Time for one last attempt, only this time Alexis had a plan. She had dreamed it up on the ride home. Now all she had to do was wait.

: {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} :

"You're sure dear?" Martha couldn't believe it. She really hoped this wasn't her granddaughter wishing for the best and dreaming it up.

"It's Kate, I know it is. She looks a little different and she's wearing all the wrong clothes for her, but it's her." Alexis was steadfast in her belief. What choice did she have?

"Amnesia." Martha thought it over again. "She said she knew it was amnesia?" Martha questioned and felt her hopes fall to the floor at the look Alexis was giving her.

"I didn't actually let her explain very much." Alexis felt bad about that. "It's not like she remembers anything."

"Your father is in his usual place, I assume?" The look on her face told Martha exactly where her son was. "This better work, kiddo, and it had better be the real Katherine." Her son wasn't going to accept anyone else.

Then there was a knock on the door. "You get the door, I'll check on your father." Martha headed to the bedroom.

Alexis tried to put herself together. This was going to be almost as difficult as getting her father out of bed and dressed. She took a deep breath, plastered on a slight smile, and opened the door. "Hi Lanie, thanks for coming." If there was anyone who could reach Kate and snap her out of it, it was Lanie.

"Alexis." Lanie hugged her. "How you doing, sweetie?" Losing Kate had hurt a lot. Watching what it did to Rick was almost as hard.

"Thanks again for coming. There's something we need to talk about." Alexis motioned for her to enter and closed the door behind her.

"Here." Alexis handed Lanie a glass of wine with a raised eyebrow.

After taking a sip, Lanie licked a drop from her lip and said, "Mmm, this is the good stuff. What's the occasion?" Lanie felt a trap and this wine was definitely part of the bait.

Martha made her entrance from the bedroom. "Lanie, welcome to the party." Now Lanie _knew_ something was up since Martha was involved.

"Okay you two, what's going on?" She'd taken the bait and had willingly showed up since it was Alexis who had asked.

"We need some help," Alexis began. "Can you help us get Dad into the shower and then dressed? We have someplace we need to get him to and he needs to be presentable," the young redhead added.

"Manhandle Castle into a shower, naked? Then get his naked butt into some clothes. I suppose he needs to be shaved, too." Lanie didn't believe these two. Granted there was a time when seeing Castle naked had intrigued her. Finding out just what Kate had been missing.

"We have a good reason and we can use your help. Please say yes," Alexis begged and gave her a pleading look. Her dad was a big man and she feared Martha and she weren't enough.

"Okay, I'll bite – where does he need to go so badly and why can't he get dressed himself?" Lanie had been out of it for a while. She had tried to stay close to Alexis at least, but she'd wandered off and felt bad about that.

Lanie saw Martha nod. "What are you two up to?" Lanie knew they wanted her, but why her? They could have called a guy to get Castle into the shower, not her.

Alexis wrung her hands and opened and closed her mouth a few times. Lanie glared at her, willing her to spill what was going on.

"Kiddo." Martha was too chicken, besides she hadn't actually seen Kate.

"Some friends and I went to an opening show downtown–"

Lanie interrupted her. " _Baby It's You_? I'd love to go see that show." Lanie saw the looks she was getting. "Go on." Lanie shut up and sat back.

Alexis tried to build it up while delaying the inevitable. "We were coming out of the theater and found the streets already clogged with cars. Not an available taxi anywhere in sight. So we tried to beat the crowd to the closest subway and that's when it happened."

"Which was?" Lanie wanted to understand why she was here.

"We ran across Detective Beckett," Alexis finally gushed and cringed, sure that Lanie would blow her top.

"Kate's dead, honey. Lord knows I wish she wasn't, but she is." She'd high hopes for Castle and her best friend. Now it was too late.

"I know, right? But it's her, Lanie! Her hair is really short and she's wearing some awful clothes that she wouldn't normally wear, but it's her. I swear." Alexis did her best to get Lanie to believe her.

"It's not possible, honey, you know that." Talking about losing her best friend still hurt.

"She has amnesia and doesn't remember anything. Not her name, not who I am. Sophie thinks she's in witness protection. …Sophie's one of my friends.

"We need your help getting Dad presentable. I'm hoping that once she sees him she'll get her memory back. …Please, Lanie. Dad misses her. He never leaves the bed." Alexis would grovel if it was necessary.

Lanie turned on Martha. "And you, how are you involved in all of this?"

"I want to believe her. I want my son to live his life again. If – and I'll admit this is a big if – if it is Katherine, he needs her." Martha was in when Alexis had dreamed up this plan.

"You haven't seen her so you don't know." Lanie turned to look at Alexis. "But you have." Alexis nodded mutely.

"I… You…" Lanie didn't know what to do or think. Kate was dead and dead was dead. Granted the FBI had taken over the case and she hadn't seen Kate after they had taken her away after the shooting at Montgomery's funeral. She hadn't been able to do the autopsy on her own friend. And in a way she was glad that she hadn't.

Riding the gurney with her blood all over her. Watching Castle fall apart as they waited. Coping with that idiot Josh blaming Castle for the shooting. Everything that had happened after that. Their lives had been forever changed.

"You're sure?" Lanie still didn't believe her. Lanie wasn't sure she wanted to even think it possible. If it wasn't Kate, she would have to go over losing her best friend all over again and she wasn't sure she wanted to do that. If she could do that again; if she would survive it.

Then again, no one had seen Kate after the shooting. It hadn't been an open casket and that was one thing Lanie still didn't understand.

"Sophie suggested witness protection." Then Alexis fired off a few questions at Lanie, hoping for answers. "Is that even possible? Would they save her, give her a new name, and a new look? I just don't understand why she doesn't remember anything!"

Lanie tried to answer but all that came out sounded more like a growl. "I know a pair of detectives that can find out," Lanie said and took out her cell phone.

"NO! …I mean, can we please wait? What if she isn't Kate?" Alexis panicked for reasons she couldn't explain.

Lanie raised an eyebrow. "But you want to take Castle to meet her without knowing," she countered.

"Please." Even if it wasn't Kate or she never recovered her memories, it might at least help her dad. "Please Lanie, you haven't seen Dad. Or you will if you help us."

Martha added her 2 cents. "I'll warn you, it isn't pretty."

"So are you in? You'll help us?" Alexis really needed a yes.

Lanie looked at the two of them and saw the pleading in their eyes. She sighed but gave her a condition. "Just so long as I get to meet her and decide for myself." Lanie suddenly found herself being hugged tightly by Alexis while she squealed in her ear.

It actually felt good to have Alexis this happy. It had been a while since she had seen her like this. "Okay, show me what we're dealing with." Might as well get started so that they all could get answers.

: {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} :

At the moment Lanie was sure she looked as bad as Castle had when they had started. He hadn't actually fought being stripped and shoved into a shower. He'd been in such a state that he hadn't really noticed until the water hit him. Then he'd screamed and attempted to scramble out.

Now he was sitting in a chair wrapped in a robe with Lanie right behind him. "Stop squirming, Castle, or I'll end up cutting your ear off." She pushed him back down into the chair. She even forcefully used the scissors as a potential weapon to get her point across.

Rick sat there dejectedly and if truth be told, felt even more despondent than he used to now that Lanie was here. Seeing her reminded him so much of Kate and what he'd lost.

"Sit still, Castle, or I'll make you bleed and since I only work with dead people I won't be able to fix it." Lanie squeezed his shoulder and got back to work.

"Now this time I really mean **don't move** unless you want your throat slit open." Lanie wiggled what was obviously a high-end stainless steel and wood razor at him. It really wasn't going to do that much damage but she could still cut him a little.

Lanie wiped away all of the excess shaving cream and looked at him in the mirror. He actually almost looked like she remembered him. "Okay ladies, he's all yours," Lanie called out which had Alexis and Martha entering the bathroom.

"I don't want to go anywhere," Rick moaned, seeing his clothes that were laid out on the bed.

"Get dressed, Dad, or we'll do it for you." Alexis wasn't putting up with this.

Martha chimed in. "I'll dress you if I have to, Richard. It'll be just like you were a kid again. I haven't forgotten how and I've seen everything before."

Rick took his jab. "I'm sure several men have shown you everything, Mother."

"Touché, except none of them were my son. Now get dressed or we'll do it for you." Martha started walking out and taking Alexis with her. She called to her son, "Five minutes Richard."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"Richard!" Martha called out exactly at five minutes. "Come out or we are coming in." It had the desired result. Rick came out fully dressed wearing everything he found on the bed, including his shoes.

"Oh, Richard!" Martha clapped her hands together. Her son actually looked alive again. Thinner and somewhat haggard, but alive.

"You look great, Dad! Now let's go." Alexis took his hand and dragged him over to the front door.

"Call me," Lanie said and watched the three of them leave the loft. "God, Kate…." Lanie wished and wished. She just wasn't sure what she wished for. She came to the realization that she wished Alexis was right and it was Kate. "So why am I waiting here?" Lanie asked herself and ran for the door. Since they took the elevator, she took the stairs and started waving her hand until a taxi stopped.

"Follow that cab." Lanie pointed at the taxi that had just pulled away and sat back. "I'm coming, Kate, I'm coming."

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Lanie saw were they were headed and feared that she would lose them. Wouldn't know what floor to get off on let alone what apartment to go to, so she ran to catch up. The elevator doors had actually just about closed when she was able to press the up button and get them to open again.

"Lanie," Alexis hissed, not convinced that she should be here.

"You didn't really think I was just going to sit there and wait for you, did you?" Lanie had never been very good at waiting and wasn't shy at getting what she wanted.

Rick eyed Lanie. "You know what's going on?" he questioned, since his mother and daughter were being tight-lipped about it.

"You're going to love it, Writer-boy." Lanie raised her eyes to watch the counter go up. "I hope," she added softly enough that no one else heard her. Still her nerves were starting to get to her.

Yes, she trusted Alexis and believed she had found someone who looked like Kate. But was it really Kate and not just someone who looked like her? Did she really have amnesia? If she did, how was that possible? She'd been shot in the heart and not her head. "Lack of oxygen maybe," Lanie whispered.

Rick heard that. "What?"

"Nothing." Lanie kicked herself for saying anything at all. She was even the first one out of the elevator but had to wait since she didn't know where to go.

"This way, Dad." Alexis still had hold of his arm. He was going to go where she wanted him to. Normally she was never this forceful but so much was at stake this time.

Alexis knocked and a moment later Sophie opened the door. "She's still here," Sophie said in a low tone.

"Who's here?" Rick was confused. Thanks to that shower he was actually more in the moment than he had been in months. Bordering on being upset, still he was going with the flow, letting his daughter drag him off to wherever they were.

Alexis looked at her friend. "Your parents?" Were they about to be interrupted by them?

"Haven't heard a word. She's in there, glued to the TV. It's just the local news but she seems riveted by it."

Kim, for her part, had been willing to wait since it meant information was going to come to her. The young woman she had been left with had pretty much left her alone. Then she had introduced her to the TV. After flipping through several channels she had landed on what looked to be an information channel.

So far it had been a mix of people being killed, what someone they called President had done lately, then something about a building burning. Except they kept interrupting the messages with these stupid whatever they were; she had no idea. She finally settled on it being a way to sell some product.

Jill alerted her to people entering the space and it had her turning to look. The lovely young woman called Alexis was back, along with a much older female, and another female that was rounder and had darker skin.

However it was the male that was with them that captured her attention. He was gorgeous! Tall with a broad chest and what looked like large arms. It had been a long time since she had even thought about sex, yet she took a quick peek at his groin before looking back up.

What he did was a complete surprise.

" **KATE! MY GOD!** "Then he rushed her and she didn't even think to defend herself. In fact she found herself being held tightly and kissed thoroughly. She had been kissed before, or at least she thought she had been kissed before. Just that this kiss seemed to do things she didn't know could happen.

Kim didn't notice her arms going around him, though she did know she was kissing him back. She wanted more from this kiss than he was providing and she willed for it to happen by kissing him back.

Kim broke from the kiss since she needed air and had been taken by surprise. "WOW!" She felt the word escape from her lips as she looked up into his eyes. They shone back at her with a look that no one had ever looked at her with before.

"Kate." He cupped her face and just stared at her.


	5. Chapter 5

**One**

 **Chapter 5**

Rick had never been so happy to see anyone in his life. At the moment, seeing Kate even eclipsed the day Alexis was handed to him after the delivery. He didn't really notice his tears starting to roll down his face.

"Alexis?" Lanie had watched it all and couldn't believe it.

"We think she has amnesia. She doesn't know any of us. She doesn't even know her name," Alexis told Lanie softly. Lanie was watching Kate closely and except for the kiss, it did look like Kate didn't recognize any of them, not even Castle.

" **HOW** **?** Where have you been?" Rick held her face and searched her eyes. But what he saw wasn't what he was used to seeing.

Kim worked at getting her mind back into gear. That kiss had done something to her. At first she was thinking she had been poisoned though Jill hadn't alerted her about any toxins.

"Who are you?" Time to get started gathering information so she could find this Kate person.

"You don't know who I am?" Rick's heart fell. Still Kate was alive even if she didn't recognize him. He could work with this. He could work with anything just so long as she was alive.

Alexis took the initiative and came up to Kate and her dad. "We think she has amnesia, Dad. We ran across her by accident after leaving our show."

"Amnesia…I don't understand. A head injury?" He remembered Kate being shot in the chest. He'd tried so hard to reach her before the shot could be taken.

The entire event played over in his mind. Every word he said. Every look on her face. Every sound that had been made that day. The feeling of his life being over when he was held outside of the operating room. Standing there with Lanie with her blood all over both of them.

He loved her so much. Losing her had been agonizingly painful. "You don't remember being shot?" Rick watched her just stare back at him. "You don't remember me telling you…telling you that I loved you?" He still feared that she would run. Telling her that he loved her had happened in a moment of panic. If it was the last thing she knew, she had to know that she was loved. Loved so very powerfully.

Kim stood there and looked at him. _**He loved her.**_ _ **T**_ _ **hat he meant he loved her target, not her**_ _ **, though**_ _ **. But he had kissed her and he was still holding her face with such tenderness.**_

Back to gathering information. "Who are you?"

"This is my dad, Richard Castle." Alexis didn't see even a hint of recognition of his name in her eyes, on her face.

Lanie added her support. "A famous writer. You love him, Kate, even if you won't admit it."

The man in front of her was a writer. That was interesting. So what was her target? Did they work together? Even more important, where was this Kate now?

"You don't remember any of us. Not what happened to you." Rick swallowed hard. "Do you remember where you've been?" He had so many questions.

"Sophie suggested witness protection," Alexis offered since it did answer a few questions, yet it also generated a lot of new ones.

He never took his eyes off of Kate. "Witness protection." Rick thought about it and tried to remember how it worked.

"But it's us, we're your friends. You don't have to pretend that you don't remember us. We would never blow your cover. …Kate, please." He needed for her to remember him.

"My name is Kim, Kimberly MacKenzie." Kim immediately kicked herself for telling them the truth. What if they weren't who they said they were? Had she just walked into a trap? If it was, what were they waiting for? Why not just kill her and them?

"Kim." Rick repeated the name and thought it just didn't fit her. She looked like a Kate; he watched her nod her head.

Martha inserted herself into the conversation. "Katherine, can you tell us anything?"

Kim saw all of them look at her with such hopefulness. It left her wondering just who this Kate was. The man in front of her, the one that had kissed her, the one that was still holding her face with such tenderness, was looking for answers.

She knew she couldn't tell them who she was and what she was doing here. They would never understand. It was hard enough to go back in time, but to expect them to understand the world she was from wasn't that easy.

"I'm Kim. Who are you people?" If she could find out what they knew of this Kate, she could complete her mission here and move on.

"Kate, please!" Rick pleaded with her to remember. He saw Kate standing in front of him. It was a dream come true after the nightmare he had suffered weeks ago. His heart was broken and seeing her was healing it. But it wasn't completely healed even after seeing her. He needed more than that.

Alexis turned to Lanie. "How do people lose their memories? Detective Beckett didn't suffer a head injury. She was shot in the chest." Lanie was the only medical person she knew.

"Causes include head and brain injuries, certain drugs, alcohol, traumatic events, or conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia." Lanie may work with the dead, but she hadn't always.

Alexis tried to think this through. "She was shot. But what happened to her after that?"

Sophie questioned something. "Don't they usually send them to another city far away? That's what they do on TV."

"Shot and killed in New York and yet here she is in New York. Dad, we need to get her out of here. If she escaped, there may be people looking for her. They may have used drugs to make sure she doesn't remember, but what if they aren't sure she's forgotten everything?" Alexis was thinking they needed to hide her.

"DAD!" Rick hadn't moved a muscle since kissing her. This, however, got him to snap his head around to look at her.

His mind started racing. Kate had been shot and pronounced dead. She had been taken and filled with drugs to force her to forget. Why not just kill her? Rick thought he had pieced together part of the story. "They did kill her. They killed her memory of herself. Took away who she was."

"If she escaped before they finished with her…we need to go, Dad. We can't let them trace her here. Sophie and her parents don't have anything to do with this." Alexis had been forced to take over after her dad disappeared.

"DAD!" He needed to snap out of it and start thinking.

Rick tried to come up with a plan. "The loft, we need to go back to the loft just long enough to collect what we need, then drive out to the Hamptons. It's safer; we can spot anyone that comes and it's not cold there yet."

He turned back to Kate. "Come with us, Kate. We can help. Please let us help you." Kate had never accepted help before. She was stubborn that way. She had to do it all herself. Her mother's case which had likely gotten her shot was case in point.

"Have I been there before?" Their answer would tell Kim what she needed to do.

"Yes and no," Rick replied, knowing that he needed to explain further. "You've been to the loft several times. You never accepted an invitation to go to the Hamptons. You'll like it. No funny business, I promise." The Hamptons would give him a chance for her to recover her memories. For him to show just how much he loved her.

"You need to go, girlfriend. Losing you once was bad enough; losing you again will be worse. Let Castle help you. For once, Kate, let us help you." Lanie loved the idea of the Hamptons refuge.

"We can all help." Alexis was willing to go and stay and help.

"You have school," Rick countered, knowing how much school meant to his daughter.

"I have friends who can take notes for me." Alexis turned to Sophie. "Right?"

"We'll video record everything if we have to." Sophie was more than willing to help and talk their friends into helping.

Rick turned back to Kate. "Please come." He didn't want to try and force her, she would just fight back. He started breathing again and his hopes started soaring when she nodded.

Kim needed information and these people had it. Plus she could search this loft while she was there.

"She needs clothes and other things, Dad. If she doesn't remember, it's possible she can't remember where she's been or where she was being held. Those don't really look like what Detective Beckett would wear."

That had Rick looking her over and he had to agree. The clothes just weren't her, nor were the shoes she was wearing. She wasn't wearing her high heeled boots.

"Alexis and I will take care of that. Just get her to the loft and then out to the Hamptons. We'll follow using a car service." Martha suggested that Alexis use her cell phone to start making calls.

Rick tried to start thinking of what he needed out of the loft and what car to take. He had clothes at the Hamptons house so he didn't need to pack much. He left Kate and went over to Alexis to make plans.

This allowed Lanie to approach Kate. "Let them help you, girl, and don't be afraid. Please tell me that you know that Castle loves you and will do anything and everything he can to keep you safe and help you."

Kim had long since worked out that these people had loved this Kate a lot. She was Kim, though. "I'm Kim, not Kate. I'm sorry." Actually she meant it. Killing Kate was obviously going to be devastating to these people. "But I'll go."

Lanie relaxed at the last remark and hugged her. "Writer-boy loves you, you could learn to love him back even if you don't remember everything that was you. Give him a chance."

Kim simply nodded since once she worked out where Kate was and verified it all and destroyed all the DNA she'd be gone.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

Kim found herself next to Rick inside one of those yellow machines. There was a glass panel between them and the driver that she supposed was their way of providing some kind of security. It was just that where they were smelled so badly. She had no idea what she was sitting in and hated to even guess. She wasn't sure she wanted to ask Jill later, either.

Thankfully he was silent the entire trip even if he didn't sit still very well. He seemed to be forever moving something. Finally they stopped and he actually helped her get out and guided her inside.

The building looked old and the elevator was a true antique. She was grateful that they made it up to a floor where they got off. He even used a real solid key to gain entrance. She would question Jill later about it all. It was possible that they either didn't know better or it was the best they had.

"You want something to drink? Water, wine, beer, something harder?" Rick asked her.

While Kim really didn't feel like wine, she was interested in taste testing. "Water, please." It was safer. He handed her a cold plastic bottle out of the refrigerator.

"Wait here, I just need to gather a few things." Rick kissed her cheek and headed for his study.

It gave Kim a moment to look around while she drank. It was a little dark for her taste. Dark floors, dark furniture with a fair amount of wood showing. She liked it a little but was glad she didn't live here.

She could hear him moving around so she pressed a series of panels on her arm. "Jill?" Kim wanted answers.

" _Scanning…there is a fair amount of residual DNA in a number of places. The kitchen, the furniture, also near the shelving holding a number of books. Some of it is recent and only_ _three or four months_ _or so_ _old. None of it needs to be destroyed."_

"So she spent some time here. How old is the oldest sample?" How long had she been here?

" _Approximately three years. She has been here_ _many_ _times. There is a trail of DNA leading up the stairs."_

That had Kim going up the stairs and checking out each of the bedrooms. Two of them were clearly lived in. One was obviously for Alexis and she was willing to bet the other was for Martha.

" _She has spent considerable time in this room. The amount of residual DNA suggests that she stayed in this room for several weeks."_

It had Kim searching the room but she didn't find anything that would tell her where this Kate was now. "Nothing." Kim was a little disappointed.

"There you are." Rick started breathing again. He hadn't found her anywhere downstairs when he had stepped out to check on her. He even placed a hand over his heart to make sure it was beating and willed it to slow down a little. "Do you remember staying here?" He really wanted her to remember him. "Your apartment was blown up and you stayed here till you found a new place to live."

To Kim it sounded like these two had a history. Still it didn't matter, she just needed to find this Kate and move on. She asked a direct question. "Where is my body now? As far as you know."

"You were buried next to your mother." Rick hated thinking about that. Still here she was, standing in his spare bedroom, much like she had done before.

"I need to collect a few things and then we can go." Rick wrapped his arms around her. "Even without your memory I'm really glad you're alive." Then he kissed her.

Kim couldn't resist kissing him back. When he broke from the kiss and left the room, she stood there a little stunned. "Who did you find?" Kim whispered softly.

She followed him downstairs and watched him come out carrying a couple of items and put one down on the counter in the kitchen and the other on the floor. "One more thing." Rick turned and left back into his study.

Then he came back out just as fast. "Two things actually." And he went back in.

" _That is a primitive computer_ _;_ _he has a wireless access to an information network. Proceeding to make a connection and download everything on that computer for later if needed."_

Kim remained silent, let Jill do her job, and kept an eye on where Rick had gone.

" _I have found where her mother has been buried. Programming a location."_

Kim wasted no time in pressing a series of panels and in a blinding flash of light she was gone, only to arrive in a new location. As Kim looked around after activating her night vision, all she saw was a whole lot of small concrete markers. They were all over the place.

"Oh, swell." This was going to take some time. She lifted her arm, touched a series of panels, and began walking.

She didn't know how long it had taken her but she finally found it. Kim read the marker. "Beckett, Johanna Beckett, February 4, 1951 – January 9, 1999. Vincit Omnia Veritas. Jill?" She didn't understand.

" _Truth Conquers_ _A_ _ll."_

"Sounds like an interesting woman." Kim lifted her arm and pressed a series of panels and moved her arm around the space. "Jill?"

" _There is a small amount of her DNA on the marker itself. I believe there is actually a fair amount of DNA on the marker_ _but_ _it is too degenerated_ _due to exposure to the elements_ _to verify._ _Johanna Beckett's_ _body is in fact buried in the ground inside a container._

" _Scans show another container next to it, however, it is empty. There is no residual DNA of hers inside it or on the exterior. Johanna's DNA does not match hers."_

"That's no surprise since that woman wasn't her mother." Kim sighed. "You're certain she isn't buried here?" Kim still needed to find her, alive or not.

" _Negative, save for a little DNA on the marker, she is not located here. We will need to continue our search."_

"SHIT!" Kim had been hoping to get this over with and move on. Now what did she do. "Can you access that information system you talked about and do a search for her. Someone somewhere has to know. I don't really want to spend my life here searching for her."

" _Accessing, commencing search. This may take some time since some locations are protected. I have already found that she was a_ _h_ _omicide detective for the City of New York. She was the youngest to achieve this feat."_

"Just keep looking for her. I need to destroy her DNA. Download everything you can find on her. We might be able to use it later if it takes too long." Kim thought she might need it if she was going to stay here for a time.

Kim lifted her arm and pressed a series of panels and was satisfied that no one was in range. Another series of panels and she vanished in a flash of bright light only to arrive in another flash of bright light.

These people were still her best bet until Jill found something for her to use. It did at least have one good thing. Rick was a good kisser.

Kim stepped out of the bedroom and started down the stairs. She heard his voice call out, "THERE YOU ARE!" She watched him race across the room, bashing his knee into a small table and cussing his way over to her. The next thing she knew she was being hugged tightly. In a strange way it actually felt pretty good.

"Where did you go? Please don't do that again." Rick knew he was pushing but she was the only one who was going to put his heart back together so he risked it.

"I never left. You sure you looked everywhere?" Kim had gotten good at lying with a straight face.

Rick was beyond sure that he had looked everywhere. He had even knocked before opening all of the bathroom doors all the way. Still she was here now. Rick placed her head in his hands and looked her in the eye.

What he wanted to do was kiss her silly. But he felt he'd pushed her about as far as he dared for now. "Ready to go? It's about a 2 hour drive. You're going to love the place and I promise no funny business."

"So what you're saying is that it's going to be boring." Kim decided to tease him though she didn't know exactly why. The look on his face was priceless and seeing that had her chuckling softly.

Now Rick really did want to kiss her senseless. It was a lot like what Kate would do to him.


	6. Chapter 6

**One**

 **Chapter 6**

Kim didn't know what she was sitting in exactly except that it was a little uncomfortable. It was a little noisy and she had this stupid belt across her waist and across her chest. Rick had insisted on her putting it in place.

She was practically sitting on the road as they went. The one bright spot was that it didn't have a top and allowed the wind to blow her hair. Looking around it had taken a little while to leave the city thanks to all the red lights. However, now they were out in the country side.

Rick had been silent so far so she had stayed just as quiet. While she had paid most of her attention to where they were going she had also been watching Rick. What they were in seemed rather rudimentarily simple. He applied power then suddenly he didn't. Though when he didn't, he moved this stick that was between them.

It took some stretching to see what he was looking at and she didn't really understand what she was looking at. Just at the moment the line was pointed a little short of the number 70. It must mean something since there were larger numbers shown. "Seventy?" she questioned.

"The cops are a little thick this time of day and I'm not interested in getting a ticket for speeding," Rick responded quickly and then grinned at her. "Besides it wouldn't look good for a homicide detective to get a speeding ticket."

"I'm not in charge. This isn't mine," Kim answered which had Rick chuckling.

"Kate–" She interrupted him.

"Kim, my name is Kim," she corrected.

Rick moaned since she was fighting back over her own name. "Your name is **Kate** ; you just don't remember."

"I remember my name is **Kim** ; please use it or take me back." She would search without their help.

Rick silently refused and simply chose to ignore calling her by any name for now. "Where have you been all this time? Right, sorry. You don't remember." He went back to paying attention to his driving.

"Tell me about her," Kim asked him. Her interest, she was telling herself, was because she needed information so she could find her body.

Rick couldn't resist. "Tell you about you." He smirked a bit then continued, "You are Katherine Houghton Beckett, born in New York November 17, 1979. Your parents are Johanna and Jim Beckett. Your mother was killed January 9, 1999." He turned to look at her and saw her face.

He tried to describe the Kate Beckett he knew and loved. "You are driven and brilliant. You have a heart of gold but you hide it behind a wall. You're a very private person and don't like being put in the public eye.

"You're a very hard worker and do the very best you can at your job. You take great exception to other detectives not doing their job properly. Too many detectives settle for the easiest route and ignore all other leads. They can't see the forest for the trees."

"And her…my father?" He had only spoken of her mother who was dead.

"Jim…" Rick really didn't know how to tell her but he knew he had to tell the truth. He swallowed and cleared his throat. "When your mother was killed, he took it hard and became an alcoholic. The two of you got lost for a while until he finally stopped drinking.

"After…after you were killed, he fell off the wagon and returned to drinking. He went back into rehab to get sober again. Sadly it didn't work out the first time. Last I knew he was back in rehab, just a different facility."

"So how is he now and where exactly is he?" He might be a lead.

"I…I don't know exactly. I didn't take you dying very well, either. Most of what I know comes from Alexis. She, ah, she took over everything." Rick was just starting to understand what he had done and not done. He had forced his daughter to handle everything and worry about him.

It told him just how much he loved her. The question was, did it tell her?

It told Kim that she needed to have a long conversation with Alexis. "You know where he is? How to contact him?" He might have answers the others didn't.

Rick shrank into his seat. One more thing for him to be embarrassed about. "You'll need to talk to Alexis." At least he wasn't an alcoholic. Not that he hadn't had a few drinks. Her mother had been killed and her dad had disappeared in the bottom of a bottle. Kate died and he disappeared from life while she chose to close off her heart.

They were a real pair. What he wanted to do was tell her that he loved her. Unfortunately she didn't even know who he was. Was it fair to put that kind of pressure on her? Rick chose to keep silent just to be safe.

They both fell into silence for the remainder of the trip. It wasn't until Rick pulled off the paved road onto a gravel one that Kim really started paying attention. She didn't really see that many houses and the ones she did see were rather large. It wasn't until he pulled up in front of one and stopped that Kim really looked. To her way of thinking, it was old. It was also big. She wasn't sure what she was expecting given the panel and year, however this wasn't it.

She stepped out of the car. "You rich or something?" The loft had been nice in its way, but it was much smaller than this.

"I'm not Patterson rich, but I do okay. Come on, I'll give you the tour and then find you a room." Rick took the small amount of supplies he had brought with him from the trunk.

He showed her all of the main rooms before taking her to the patio doors. "This is why I come out here." Rick opened them and they stepped outside. Kim had to admit that while the interior wasn't her style, the exterior was really nice. There was a beautiful green lawn with the ocean just beyond. She could even hear the waves, mostly thanks to the earpiece she was wearing.

"The pool is this way," he motioned and started walking, watching her follow him.

Kim didn't really understand. Why have a pool if you had an ocean? Though swimming in either sounded really nice. She was a little let down when she saw the pool, though. It was a simple rectangle that had pieces of wood over it providing a little cover. There was seating and other things on one side.

"You're probably hungry." He knew that Kate almost never remembered to eat and what she did eat wouldn't feed a bird. Rick walked her back inside and into the kitchen.

"Wait, your bedroom!" Rick remembered he had to show her where hers was. "This one is yours. Alexis is across the hall. Mother's one door down and I'm at the end of the hall. Each room has a bathroom which is stocked with everything you should need. If not either Alexis or Mother might have it.

"There might be something for you to change into if you want. It will likely not fit you real well, but you can try." Rick opened and closed one of the drawers.

"I'll have a snack ready when you come down. Alexis and Mother will be here shortly with clothes for you and other things." He retreated to the kitchen.

She touched a series of panels and was satisfied. Kim wanted a few answers. "Jill?"

" _Her DNA is not present anywhere in this building. She has never been here. There are a number of rehab locations back in the city. I will need more information to know which one he is located in._

" _Her death was in the local papers and extensively covered. She was giving a speech at her_ _c_ _aptain_ _'_ _s funeral when she was shot in the heart. She was pronounced dead,_ _and_ _no one_ _,_ _it would appear_ _,_ _has seen her after that."_

"So it's possible that she isn't dead?"

" _Without a body to confirm it, it is possible even if unlikely."_

"So dead or not. Not dead, then why's she in hiding? If she is dead, what happened to her body?" Kim didn't understand. "Have they determined who killed her?" Maybe knowing who her killer was would be another lead to where she was.

" _Negative, her shooting remains unsolved."_

"Keep searching; we need to find her or find who might know. Research where she was working. Perhaps a quick trip will gain us some needed information. Maybe there's a hard copy that you can't access. Put together a list of names and their locations. Someone knows something, we just need to find that person." Kim groaned. All of the other targets had been far easier to find. Granted the one that had been turned into a Cyberman had been more of an accident. Still her plan had worked.

"Jill, someone shot her and presumably killed her. Maybe a variation of my plan for the Cyberman would work. Perhaps we can set a trap. Make myself available or announce that I'm back and wait for the killer to show up. He may know what no one else knows." Kim was willing to take at least a little risk.

" _Make yourself bait. Based on what I_ _ha_ _ve learned she was shot by a sniper_ _at_ _long range. Without armor even you will be killed by such a shot."_ Jill didn't approve of her plan.

"Then we avoid large open areas. Put my training and skill to use." If they stayed in or close to buildings, the killer would have to get close. At least to confirm it was her before attempting to kill her. "That city might be a good location. We can try it after we talk with this Alexis person." Apparently that young woman knew a lot.

Kim stepped into the bathroom and washed up a little before going back downstairs. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw him working in the kitchen. She had to admit that he was handsome and was definitely a good kisser. Maybe if she got him off his game? She made her decision and walked into the area and was instantly spotted.

"It's nice and light, just like you like it." Rick smiled hesitantly as she walked right up to him and lifted up a little on her toes. She reached up to pull his head down and kissed him. At first Rick was caught by surprise. Kate had never done this before. Still it only took him a moment for him to respond and crush her to his body, eagerly kissing her back.

Kim was unwilling to allow him to take control so she applied a little pressure and forced his head and his lips to hers, holding him there. Kim hadn't kissed that many men, but she used what she did know to make the kiss memorable. She finally broke from the kiss and smiled at him. "Hi." She thought her plan was working perfectly since the look on his face was one of shock. Maybe they didn't do this much which left her with questions.

"Hi," Rick mumbled weakly in response.

"Food?" Kim asked, thinking it was best if she kept him off balance, leaving her in control.

"FOOD! Right, food." Rick left her and started serving what he had put together. Her actions had left him confused. She didn't remember him and yet she kissed him. Did she truly not remember him or was she playing with him?

Kim watched him while she ate what he'd made. She wasn't really paying attention to what it tasted like; she was focused on him. He was handsome and seemed to be bending over backwards to not say something stupid. So much so that he wasn't saying anything at all. What she needed was information and maybe she could mess with him at the same time.

"So were we a couple?" He coughed and spat out what he was drinking. Kim persisted, "Have we had sex?" The face he made after that was even better.

"WHAT?!" Rick grabbed a napkin and cleaned up his face. "We were partners. You were the lead homicide detective for the 12th precinct and I was your…unpaid civilian consultant. Your partner."

 _ **A writer as a partner for a homicide detective**_ _ **?**_ _ **That was interesting.**_ Kim reminded him of what she'd asked. "You didn't answer my question."

"You asked if we were a couple." Rick thought he had answered her question. God knows he wished they were more, but they weren't.

Kim reminded him of her other question and watched him fumble the tiny sandwich he had in his hand. "Sex?" She cocked her head. "I can strip and you can take me here on the counter." Kim wasn't totally sure if she was teasing him or what. Would she strip and let him fuck her right here and now if he challenged her? She was pretty sure the answer to both was no, but it might be fun. It had been a while since any man had been inside her. Even if he became just a one-night stand it still might be fun.

"Anyone home!" Martha's voice rang out, and Rick scrambled out of his chair to intercept her and Alexis.

"Is she still here?" Alexis questioned him softly, far enough away that Kate wouldn't hear her.

"She's…unchanged." No way he was telling his daughter that Kate had offered herself for a quickie on the kitchen counter.

Alexis had feared that. "Lanie said that having her in places that she had known might help, but she's never been here before." Alexis was beginning to think that hiding out here wasn't the best idea.

Martha answered her son's questioning look. "We've been talking almost all the way here."

Kim had heard everything thanks to her earpiece and had started walking toward them.

"These are for you. We did our best to get the right sizes." Martha held up her five bags and Kim was amused that Alexis was holding another five bags. All of the bags said _Ann Taylor_ which meant nothing to her.

"We'll put them in your room. You must be tired by now, it's really late." Alexis thought that she should be walking in her sleep by now, but she was way too wired after all that had happened to be sleepy. It was just after 3:00 am.

"First door on the left," Rick said as they went to the bedrooms. "They're right, you must be tired. We'll talk tomorrow or go into town to do more shopping if they forgot something."

Kim really wasn't tired but knew she needed to rest for what would happen tomorrow. It might be a very busy day. "End of the hall, right?" Kim started to walk past him but she paused, leaned in to kiss his cheek, and smiled broadly at him. She even put a little extra swing in her walk.

Rick felt his cock come to life along with the urge to follow her to her room and bend her over the bed. Instead he moaned and just stood there.

"These are all yours. Hopefully we thought of everything and that everything fits. There are stores in town if you need more. The bathroom should have everything. If not come find me or Grams." Alexis smiled, not knowing what to do next.

"Get some sleep, dear. You're safe here," Martha assured her. She took Alexis and left the room, closing the door behind them.

"Now what, Grams? She doesn't remember us." How was she going to save her dad if she didn't remember them? Alexis was ready to collapse and began to feel far more than just tired.

"Let's go talk to your father and then get some sleep. One of us is going to need to be up really early just in case." Martha led her downstairs.

"Lanie did mention that she might start having nightmares as her old memories conflict with her new ones." They had called Lanie a lot on the drive there.

"Did she say anything, Dad?" He had been alone with her and Alexis wanted answers.

Rick shook his head. "She doesn't remember anything." She didn't remember him being her partner and she certainly didn't remember teasing him about having sex. Not like that anyway.

Alexis deflated a little. She had built up such high hopes the second she had seen Kate.

"One of us needs to stay awake. If she's on the run from who had her, we need to be alert," Martha suggested, not that she was interested in staying awake.

"I'll stay up. I can't sleep anyway." It felt like he had been sleeping for weeks as it was. Rick hugged each of them and watched them go up the stairs. He headed for the kitchen to start the coffee maker. If he was going to stay awake, he needed caffeine. Lots and lots of it.

Kim started looking through her bags and placed everything on the bed while the bags went on the floor. "None of this looks like what you found, Jill." Kim couldn't resist teasing her a little.

" _Well_ _, e_ _xcuuuse me!"_ Jill didn't say anything else as Kim looked over what she had.

Kim had to admit that as she put each item away that what they had brought looked a lot better than what she was wearing. But she didn't dare take off what she was wearing.

"Scan everything, Jill. We'll need to duplicate what they've provided."

" _Scan complete. …Alexis has stopped at the door."_ Jill added the latter softly.

Kim debated catching Alexis at the door but chose to pull the covers down and hop into bed. Unlike what she'd thought, she was asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

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"Amnesia?" Espo glanced at his partner looking for support.

"None of us ever saw the body again after the hospital. All we know is what they told us and what the cemetery told us," Ryan admitted frustratedly.

"You think they picked her up and forced them to tell us lies?" Espo questioned since he really did want to believe. It meant Kate really was alive and not dead. And memory loss but alive was far better than being dead.

"FBI, witness protection. They wouldn't tell us anything either. DAMNED FEDS!" Ryan hated even thinking of them. They wouldn't bat an eye about hurting anyone over this.

"What do we do?" Lanie was at a loss. That was why she'd called them.

"We do our jobs. We're detectives." Espo thought that was obvious. "I have a contact in the military in case they are somehow involved. You take Jordan Shaw and maybe Sorenson." Espo nodded at Ryan who accepted the task. "We'll find out what's going on." Espo had just had his hopes raised and he wasn't going to let them be crushed. Losing Beckett once was bad enough.

"What about Gates? She catches wind of what we are doing and we'll both be unemployed." Ryan really did fear her. It was obvious that she hated cops, all cops. You were guilty until proven innocent and maybe not even then.

"Then we be careful." Espo wasn't scared of her. They just needed to be careful. "I'll gather up the firepower during my time off."

Ryan looked at him questioningly. "If Beckett's being hunted, no one at Castle's place is going to be armed. One of us puts in for vacation and the other calls in sick," Espo said.

"Beckett dies again over my dead body." Espo would even call in a few favors to get the weapons he wanted.

Lanie loved these two. She also made up her mind – when they didn't go into work, neither did she.


	7. Chapter 7

**One**

 **Chapter 7**

Kim woke up in the middle of the night and looked around. "Jill?" She hadn't alerted her to anything so she didn't think whatever it was was a threat. However what if was a possible lead to where this Kate was located?

" _Someone left in what this planet calls a car. They have arrived back from wherever they went. It_ _seems_ _that it was Rick. …Something called a Ferrari_ _;_ _I_ _a_ _m still working on just what model. The types of cars that are available on this planet are numerous. It would appear that a Ferrari is one of the more expensive ones."_

"Oh." Since it was nothing she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. "You mean that thing we came here in?" Kim asked tiredly.

" _Correct."_

"Hm. Download what it takes to drive one. Maybe I can convince him to let me drive it. A girl has to have some fun." She yawned and drifted back to sleep while smiling widely.

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Alexis slammed her hand down on her alarm and groaned. She had set it for really early, meaning she had gotten maybe 2 hours of sleep. Feeling like she did, she was thinking this had been a really bad idea. Still she had committed herself.

Much more awake, dressed and fresh from a shower, Alexis was almost running down the stairs. Looking around she didn't see her dad.

The kitchen was the most likely location but it was empty. Walking into the living room she found him stretched out on the sofa. She went over to him and shook his shoulder, thinking that maybe she should punch it instead.

"Dad…DAD!" He finally stirred. "Dad, you were supposed to stay awake." Alexis was angry at him again. Too much was at stake to put up with this shit.

Rick felt like shit but he sat up, still dressed in yesterday's clothes. "What time is it?" He held his head since it hurt.

"Five thirty. You might as well get up and take a shower and get dressed. Or do I have to call Lanie again?" Alexis glared down at him and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Is she still here?" Rick really wasn't awake to notice how mad his daughter was at him and not just for this.

"How would I know? I'm not the one that was supposed to stay awake. Now get up!" Alexis stomped away headed for the kitchen. If they were going to eat she was going to have to do the cooking…again.

Rick heard her stomp away and felt every stomp strike his heart. He had screwed up after Kate had been killed and now that she was back he was still screwing up. Determined to do better he got up and groaned, dragging his ass up the stairs. He stopped for a moment at her door to listen.

Hearing nothing told him nothing which only made his heart sink a little further.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

It was a fresh and rejuvenated Richard Castle that stopped at her door again to listen. Still hearing nothing he moved on and found Alexis still in the kitchen.

"Need any help?" Rick felt better and tried to show that he was back in the game.

"NO!" Alexis was still angry with him. Angry with him for a lot of things.

"I'm sorry." Rick came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. "I know I haven't been there for you. Losing Kate was an horrendous blow, but it's still not an excuse."

Alexis was still mad. Glad that he knew he'd screwed up, but that didn't change things. "Where did you go?" She had heard the car last night before finally falling asleep.

"I made a call. If she's on the run I didn't want to risk using my cell phone or the land line. So I drove to a place that was still open and made the call from there. Then I called the store and left a message. We don't have much food to work with here so I left a list of what I wanted," Rick related but didn't feel her loosen up any.

"Who?" Alexis was determined to hold onto her anger. He deserved every ounce of it.

"A friend. He's going to quietly do some investigating concerning Kate. See if there's any action at the name being used. Maybe it will tell us who had her and where. If we're lucky, maybe even a why." Rick still had a lot of friends that would help him.

Alexis was glad for the food since what she was using was just about everything they had. Coming here had been spur of the moment. "We need to strip the beds and do laundry, too." One of the reasons she had trouble getting to sleep was breathing in those sheets.

"I'll start with yours and mine." Rick kissed the back of her head and headed to the stairs.

"Did you turn on the pool?" Alexis called after him. That had Rick stopping where he was. It was another thing that told him his mind wasn't in this.

"I'll do it right after I start the first load. And I'll clean the grill, clean the pool, and get out the vacuum. You can throw any of the your clothes in the laundry room. I'll do those after collecting all the other sheets." Rick was sure he and Martha were going to need to have clothes washed as well.

Alexis was glad her dad was up and starting to think, but she was going to hold onto her anger. Her dad needed to learn. She knew he was suffering but she was determined not to give him any slack.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Kim stepped out of the shower and put her suit back on after drying herself and her hair. Her suit kept itself clean and fresh. It even came with a built in sports bra. Walking over to the closet she looked over what she had been provided with. She really liked the white fitted dress shirt, the sharkskin jacket and matching flare leg trousers. Quality business casual. Of course there were more clothes: the requisite underthings and sleepwear, casual, business, and outfits perfect for a night out. Martha and Alexis had excellent taste in this world's fashions. There was even a dark green bell sleeve lace shift dress that piqued her interest. Very elegant.

"Anything, Jill?"

" _Various members of this house have stopped at your door,_ _though_ _they have all moved on. Presently all of them are downstairs in the kitchen."_

Thinking about food made her hungry. "If this Kate has gotten herself into something, maybe it's time to call in a favor," Kim said to herself as she raised her arm and pressed a short series of panels. In a blinding flash of light she was gone only to arrive at a new location almost instantly.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"Gary!" Kim watched him jump out of his skin since his attention was on what he was doing and was mildly amused. She liked him. He had always been a good friend.

"GOD, Don't do that!" He willed his heart to slow down. "What the hell are you wearing?" He looked her up and down. "What are you up to? I haven't heard from you in weeks, better make that months. …And how did you get in here?" He knew his location was secure. Not just anyone could get in. She could but her attempt would alert him to her arrival.

"I need a favor," Kim said and since he didn't say anything back she continued, "I may be in need of some armor soon. What have you got?" She didn't need for him to ask too many questions.

"Can't you just put in a request? You're head of their security for some branch as I recall." Who she worked for should be able to get her anything.

"Not at the moment. I'm taking an extended leave." She was unwilling to say more. "The armor?"

He knew he owed her big and thought he had just the thing. "Follow me." Gary got up and started walking.

Kim followed him through secured doors until finally they were in a different room. She followed him to something that was just hanging in mid-air. "Okay I'll bite, what is it?" It didn't look like anything to her. It looked like some common piece of necklace to her. Granted the center piece looked a little like a locket.

"This little jewel has just finished its field trials." Gary reached for it and plucked it out of the air. "It goes around your neck." He offered it up to her for him to put it on her.

"What does it do?"

"It works on either a verbal code that you assign to it after it analyzes that it's really you or your DNA can activate it by pressing here." He indicated the spot. "Once activated, it folds out a series of panels that will cover you from head to foot. It'll stop anything up to a plasma shot. So long as you keep the helmet on, it'll clean the air of anything – pollutants, toxins, pretty much anything. You can even survive out in space for up to six hours depending on how hard you breathe. Maybe a little more if you can control your breathing. The panels will also hold out any amount of radiation. You can even survive a gamma ray burst…once." He held up his finger to reinforce his point.

"Time from activation to complete deployment?" If it took too long, what good would it be?

"Two point two seconds." He was proud of his new toy.

"Weaponry? If it doesn't have any built-in can it accommodate having weapons deployed from within?" She was presently armed and wanted to keep them.

"Once you wear it and press here," showing her a different activation location, "it will run a scan of you. Once you activate a weapon it will seal itself around that location while allowing it to be deployed. It's to maintain the integrity of everything else it can do." It wouldn't do to be out in space, activate a weapon and end up flash frozen.

"The same for vision?" She had vision aids as well as hearing. "And hearing?"

He chuckled. "Naturally." Did she really think he hadn't thought of that?

"I'll take it!" Kim was in love. "If I can have it." It sounded like a prototype.

"If anyone asks, it's out being field tested again. On one condition, though. If you need to deploy it I want to know how it performs. To download everything that happens." He had just revealed that it kept a record of every deployment.

"Deal!" Kim turned her back to him so that he could put it on her. She fingered it once it was on.

"Let's get you set up for it. It needs to get used to your voice and download your DNA," Gary informed her.

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Kim arrived in a brilliant flash of light back in the room she had been given. She immediately heard someone knocking on her door.

Alexis knocked a little faster after she saw this brilliant light flash from under the door. "KATE!" If someone had found her or them already they were in big trouble.

However, the door opened and she saw Kate standing there. She was dressed in some of the clothes they had gotten her. She even had a new necklace that she didn't remember her wearing before.

"Everything alright?" Alexis tried to look past her into the room. To see a reason for that flash of light.

"Perfect, why?" Kim turned to look where she was looking and saw nothing. "And it fits, thank you." Kim motioned to the clothes that she was wearing. So long as they didn't search her closet they would never know.

"Dad needs your sheets from the bed. They need to be laundered. Oh and breakfast is ready. We'll have lunch once the groceries arrive." Alexis began to walk away but stopped to wait for her.

What she found was hot oatmeal, toast, juice, and water. "Sorry, until the groceries get here we don't have much. Coming here was a spur of the moment idea." Alexis knew it wasn't much, but it was what they had so they'd have to make do.

"It'll be fine." Kim started spooning some oatmeal as a taste test first. She paused for a moment. "I'm told you know everything." Kim had lots of questions.

"About?" Alexis stopped making a list of what they might still need after the groceries got here.

Kim started with these questions: "What happened to me after I was shot? Where my father is? How I can contact him?"

Alexis kicked herself for not telling her about her dad. "Be right back." She ran to the stairs and was back in a moment. She handed her a brochure. "Your dad is located here now. His first rehab location didn't work out. Someone told you that he started drinking again. After…after he was told you were dead." Alexis hated what he had done to himself, but she understood his pain.

Kim knew exactly where her parents were and her dad wasn't a recovering alcoholic on another planet in the 21st century. "Is he allowed contact from the outside?" She had every intention of going there but needed to sound concerned even if she wasn't.

"I can't since I'm not family. Although they'll probably let you talk to him. The phone number is on that. There's a house phone here in the kitchen, another in Dad's study, and one in his bedroom that you can use." Alexis watched her carefully to gauge her reaction.

"Where's your dad?" Kim hadn't seen him since before going to bed.

"He's out cleaning the pool. We have a whole list of things to do if we're going to stay here." They hadn't had a reason to come here after the shooting. The house needed a lot of things.

"Dad's study is through that door," Alexis pointed. She saw Kim leave her breakfast that even she herself had barely touched.

Alexis wasn't sure what to think. She was obviously going to call her dad, but she didn't show very much concern for him. It left her thinking that maybe she really didn't remember them or anything else.

"Why? Just so they could ruin your life?" How anyone could be that cruel escaped her.

Alexis watched as she entered Rick's study and closed the door. A moment later there was a flash of light that escaped through the cracks around the door and under it. She dropped her list and pen and ran to the room. Alexis didn't wait to knock and just opened it. The room itself wasn't all that big. There was his desk and chair, a wall of books, and a small reading area with a tiny table. It didn't even have a closet.

Regardless, Alexis searched every inch of the space, every nook and cranny. Not finding Kate and the window was still closed left her standing there not understanding. "What the hell is going on?" Perplexed, she searched the room yet again.

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Kim looked at the name tag on the middle-aged staff member's shirt. "Hi Jason, I'm here to see Jim Beckett," Kim said to the male staff member just inside the door.

He needed to know who she was first. "And you are?"

"Katherine Beckett, his daughter," Kim lied. Everyone thought she was her so she'd be her for the moment. The look of shock on his face was clearly evident. "Is there a problem?" Kim asked him hoping to spur him into action.

"No, no problem. Let me find out where he is for you." He picked up the phone and kept sneaking shocked looks at her.

Kim simply looked around. It looked like a nice enough place. Even the furniture was to her style.

"He's presently in the atrium. If you'll follow Rob, he'll take you to him." He motioned to a heavyset black man that had just joined them.

"Thank you." Kim nodded and turned to follow Rob.

The second she was far enough away, the man at the desk picked up the phone again. "You told me to call if anyone showed any interest in Jim Beckett. …His _daughter_ just arrived." Hearing a dial tone, he stared at the receiver; the person on the other end had abruptly hung up on him.

"Jim Beckett is sitting over there." Rob pointed at him as Kim walked over to the older man. He stayed to watch everything.

Kim moved a chair closer to him and sat down in front of him. "Hi." To her he looked drugged or maybe just lost.

Jim looked up and about had a heart attack. His breathing became fast and shallow and it took everything he could do to remain seated. "Katie?" It was her but it simply wasn't possible. And yet…. " **KATIE!** " Jim fell out of his chair and scrambled to even be on his hands and knees, just to touch her. "MY GOD!"

Kim had no problem telling that this man loved her, loved her deeply. Perhaps even more than Rick did when he'd first seen her. "Hi," Kim said again softly, mildly amused at how he was behaving.

"Katie? I don't understand…it is you, isn't it?" She looked a lot like his daughter. Her hair was shorter than he had ever seen it and the clothes she was wearing were a little off. And why was she so distant?

"Hi." Kim repeated her greeting yet again and reached out to take his hands in hers. "Can you tell me what happened after the hospital?" Maybe he knew something. Give her a lead on where Kate was.

"Hospital? Don't you know?" She should know better than he would.

"Just tell me what happened. What do you know?" Kim didn't have time for a supposed big family reunion. Especially when this man wasn't her father.

"You were shot." Jim looked her over and didn't see anything that would tell him that the woman in front of him had been shot. "The doctor came out and told us you had died on the table. Your heart had given out." Jim remembered that day like it was yesterday. Yet another day from hell.

"After that, what happened after that?" She knew that much already.

"After? …What's going on, Katie? Where have you been?" Jim wanted answers, not to relive another day from hell.

"I need to know what happened after the hospital. Tell me what happened next." Kim needed answers.

An older man intruded on their conversation. "Excuse me. I'm told you are Katherine Beckett. I'm Doctor Alec Graham. Mr. Beckett is my patient."

Kim gave him the only warning she was in the mood to give him. "Go away, I need time with him."

"Now listen here. I'm his doctor and our records indicate you are deceased. You will present your ID or I will be forced to call the police and have you removed." He wasn't going to put up with this.

Kim made a decision and shot out of her chair. After just three quick moves, she eased the unconscious doctor down to the floor. He would recover but he would have a little pain for a few hours.

"What happened after the hospital?" Kim was back to Jim who looked shocked at what had happened in front of him. Kim bent down and took hold of his shoulders. "What happened next? I don't have much time."

"We buried you." He had been out of it so much that someone else made all the arrangements.

"But I'm not there, so what happened?" Her grave was empty.

"You're dead, we buried you. …What's going on, Katie? How are you here?" Not that he wasn't starting to be really glad to see her, he just didn't understand how.

"Nothing, you don't know anything." Kim felt her hopes for a lead fall to her feet. She also saw that staff member, Rob, and another a lot like him walking toward her. One or both had likely seen everything.

"I'll be back. Think about what happened after the hospital. I need to know everything." Kim began running toward the door with the **EXIT** sign over it. She hit it at full run and found herself outside.

She slammed the door closed and touched a short series of panels. Satisfied with the result she pressed another series and her weapon deployed. She used it to weld the door closed with just three short bursts. Another short series of touches and she vanished in a brilliant flash of light.


	8. Chapter 8

**One**

 **Chapter 8**

In a brilliant flash of light, Kim arrived back in the bedroom she had been using. She had no leads on where this Kate was now. Frustrated, what she wanted to do was throw something. Except this room had nothing to throw. Looking at the bed told her that Rick had been here and had stripped the sheets off it. There was a chair, but she chose the bed and started walking. Sitting on a bed when you were dejected at how things were going turned out to be too hard to accomplish. She felt herself slide down the side and land on her ass with a thud.

"SHIT!" Kim curled her legs up into herself and wrapped her arms around them and buried her face into them. She only had one question. "Why?" It was a big question since she was asking why didn't she have one solid good lead? She was a head of security so why was this being so difficult? Why was she letting it get to her? Why was it taking so long?

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Alexis was doing everything she could to avoid her dad. She was filled with too many questions and taking them to him was not an option. He was just starting to act more like her dad, to be alive and involved in life again. But something was wrong. It only left Martha, so she waited until her dad came downstairs with the sheets from her room and Alexis raced up the stairs.

Her intention was to knock and speak with Martha, but she took a glance into the room Kate was using and stopped dead in her tracks. She saw her sitting on the floor with her back against the bed. Her legs were being held against her chest and it looked like she was crying into her legs. Alexis had seen Kate several times but she could never remember seeing her break down and cry. Why was she crying? Her questions left her as she slowly walked into the room.

She was oblivious to her presence so Alexis worked at slowly sitting down on the floor next to her. "What's wrong?" Maybe she could fix it. Suddenly she wanted to fix whatever it was.

Kim's head snapped up to look at the young woman who had managed to sit next to her silently. One more thing to show that she was off her game. She'd allowed her to get this close and never noticed. She opened her mouth and for a moment considered telling her the truth. Then closed it and put her face back in her legs. She needed to think.

"Kate–" Kim interrupted her.

"Kim, my name really is Kim." Maybe they would help her if they knew the truth. It was just that everyone seemed to love this Kate person. Someone who she had every intention of killing.

Alexis wasn't affected. "Kate–" Only to be interrupted yet again.

"It's **KIM** , Kimberly MacKenzie. I know who you think I look like but I'm not. I'm truly sorry, but I'm not." Kim had finally given in and realized that this woman had had a real life and was loved.

Alexis was a little taken back by her insistence that she wasn't Kate. Whoever had taken her had had her for just about a month. Could they have accomplished that much in such a short amount of time? Affected her memories that badly?

Alexis was all set to ask a question and opened her mouth when suddenly a new voice was added. _"I am monitoring a phone call from someone to another person. The person calling is demanding an explanation_ _as to_ _why Detective Beckett is still alive._

" _His response is that she is dead. He shot her in the heart and she died on the operating table. He personally instructed_ _his men_ _to have her body intercepted and taken out to be buried._

" _He is reconfirming that she is dead."_ Jill sounded off since she had a real lead on where the body was located. Or at least someone who knew where.

Kim lifted her head, thankful for Jill once again. Then she jumped up and ignored Alexis. "Armor!" It was better to be safe than sorry.

Alexis's mouth dropped open and her eyes opened wide as she stared up at Kate.

"Program both locations and send me to who was being called. We need to have a talk." Finally a lead! He said he knew who had seen Kate last.

" _Program complete."_

Kim lifted her arm and pressed a series of panels and disappeared in a sudden bright flash of light.

Alexis shielded her eyes from the bright light. When she brought her hand down, Kate was gone. "What…what… **was** that?" Alexis was still sitting on the floor and looked around quickly.

"Are you taking pictures, kiddo?" Martha said from the doorway. Alexis turned to look at her still with a look of surprise on her face.

"What? No. …Did you see that?" Maybe she was hallucinating. How else could she explain what she'd seen?

"See what? …Groceries should be here soon. Where's Katherine?" And why was Alexis sitting on the floor?

Alexis decided on a lie while she thought this through. "Nothing. Never mind. …Bathroom." Thankfully Martha moved on and left her behind to think.

"Is her name really Kim? Why does she look so much like Kate? How did she do that? Whatever _that_ was." Alexis was really confused now. What she had seen was impossible.

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Kim arrived in a brilliant flash of light. She found herself in a small living room with another male. He was nicely built and had a phone in one hand. She had to give him credit, he reacted quite quickly. He dropped the phone, pulled out a weapon, and even got off a shot that hit her armor, doing nothing.

She swept her leg against his, causing him to lose his weapon, then she fired one of her own. Except she needed him alive, so in this case he was hit with a large web that that threw him up against the far wall. As part of its programming, the three points started spinning causing the web to tighten around his body and force him up against the wall as it tightened. She even heard him grunt as the wires dug into his flesh. Kim pressed a panel that stopped them from tightening any further. "You and I are going to have a little talk." His stare told her that he was well trained and defiant.

"I can fix that." Kim smiled behind her helmet. Another series of panels and she was soon pressing it against his neck. "That will give me answers. …Armor." Kim dropped her armor.

The look of recognition was on his face. "I'm told I was shot in the chest. I'm betting you're the one that did it. Looks like you failed, doesn't it." Kim smiled wickedly and looked around the room.

Picking up the phone he had dropped showed that it was still dialing. "Trace it and record everything if anyone answers. This person might be next before we go to the person that called him," Kim asked Jill.

" _The call has stopped, trace complete, program complete. It will be another 30 minutes before the drugs take full_ _e_ _ffect."_

"Scan the room and let's see what we have to work with while we wait." Kim looked around and started changing from normal vision to infrared until finally stopping on ultraviolet.

"What have we got here?" Kim knelt down at a spot on the floor. "Armor." She felt the panels flip into place and shoved her hand into the floor. When her hand came back out it was filled with papers. "Scan them," Kim called out and looked around. Finding what she wanted, she struck a match and watched them burn.

"Thank you for the information." Kim turned to look at him. His sneer was still in place. "Your defiance will change soon. …What else is there?" Kim looked around and her eyes landed on his laptop. "Rick had one of these. It's a primitive computer. Jill, scan it and download everything. We'll search it later. Destroy it after the scan's complete."

Kim stood there and watched him. _"All downloads are complete. There are a number of names involved. It would appear that one is what this planet calls a_ _s_ _enator. Searching… A_ _s_ _enator is a person of importance and holds a certain amount of power. He is elected into office. It would_ _seem_ _that it takes a considerable amount of money to accomplish this."_

"We'll solve that later if we can't find her. First we need answers from this guy." Kim turned and just watched as his face when from stern and hardened to soft and pliable. "Looks like it's time. What is your name?"

He actually did try to fight. "Cedric Marks."

"Jill?" She could use the name to gain information.

Jill downloaded his entire record. _"He is ex-military. He did not reenlist when his time was up. He has several notations of excessive violence."_

"You killed Kate Beckett?" Kim asked him.

"No," was his answer.

Kim changed the question. "You tried to kill me?"

"Yes." She was obviously alive so he had failed in his attempt.

"You look like a simple soldier to me, so, who ordered you to kill me?" Maybe he knew what Kate was so she could finish her task.

Kim heard him growl, but he answered, "William Bracken."

"Jill?" The name meant nothing to her.

" _Senator William Bracken. A minor_ _s_ _enator from the_ _s_ _tate of New York within the United States of America. He used to be an assistant district attorney for the_ _c_ _ity of New York before he was elected to his first political office. He made it to_ _s_ _enator in record time."_ Jill was impressed with his record.

"I still need to know where she's located. Start analyzing those papers you scanned and trace where he's made phone calls to." Kim turned her head and looked at Marks. "You stay here and remain comfortable; I'm sure someone will be along eventually." She touched a short series of panels and was gone in a flash.

There was really only one place to go while she waited for Jill to compile the information they had. Looking around she found no one in the room. "Armor." Kim felt it collapse back into her necklace, grateful for its use.

Kim moved over to sit on the bed and wait. However, she didn't need to wait long.

"I thought I saw a flash." Alexis walked in and closed the door.

Kim knew she was no threat. In fact she was a little taken with her. She was clearly very smart. She watched as Alexis walked over to her and sat down next to her. It left Kim watching her and waited.

"You're not Kate, are you? You're not suffering from memory loss, are you?" Alexis had had time to reflect and could only reach one conclusion.

Kim smiled and took a risk. "No, I'm not Kate. My name really is Kim."

Alexis nodded, looking down at her hands. "Kate's dead, isn't she?" It meant trouble for her dad.

Kim told her the truth. "I don't actually know yet. I'm trying to find her."

"Who are you? Besides your name being Kim and not Kate, even though you look just like her." Alexis would love to know.

Kim made her choice where it concerned Alexis. "Not just where but when." Alexis looked up at her since that answer made no sense.

"I'm from the Raada system in the late 51st Century. It contains two planets. Galaxis Bright and Galaxis Dark. Galaxis Dark is the headquarters for the Choam company. It's the largest conglomerate in the known universe. In my time conglomerates rule the universe. I was the head of security for the corporate office in the city of Jahoo."

Alexis looked at her like what she had said was impossible. "Difficult for you to believe?" Kim looked at her; her still being perplexed was quite evident. "Jill?" Maybe this would help. Alexis suddenly saw a small female about 6 inches tall show up just above the arm Kim had raised. "This is Jill, she is an AI unit attached to my Vortex Manipulator. Say hi, Jill." Kim was amused at the look on her face.

" _Greetings Alexis Harper Castle."_ Jill waved her hand and then disappeared.

Alexis opened her mouth and then closed it. The redhead tried to think. "If that's the truth and I'm not saying it is, then…you're an alien."

"Depends on your point of view. I'm not from this planet but I **am** human. Humans are the dominate race in the known universe. There are others and a few almost rival the number of humans but for now we are the dominant species."

"51st Century." Alexis tried it on for size. "Time travel?" Was that really possible?

"A Vortex Manipulator's main function is to transport the user through time and space via the Time Vortex. Travel is instantaneous, no matter the distance in space or time. It takes a little getting used to." Her first use had not gone well.

"You can go anywhere?" Alexis wasn't sure she believe her but it did answer a number of questions.

"In time or space, yes," Kim confirmed.

"Why come here? If you're from the 51st Century, why come the 21st? We must be really backward to you. And why do you look like Detective Beckett?" Alexis didn't understand.

Now came the embarrassing part. "I was the head of security and yet I found myself captured by a rival conglomerate. It was only after I escaped that I found out that they had stolen something from me. Something completely precious to me. Something I needed to get back at any cost."

"Must be expensive. What was it?" What could possibly be worth it to her?

"They made clones of me and sent them to different parts of the universe and in different times. They stole _**me**_ _._ Stole my DNA. My soul, if you will." To Kim it was the most precious thing you could still own. It was the 51st Century after all.

Alexis thought she understood. "There are other yous out there."

"Based on the information I found, they made twelve of me and sent them to twelve different places." After Kate she only had four more to find.

"Kate. Detective Beckett is a clone? How is that possible? She was born and grew up here." It was impossible!

"It took me 32 years to gather all the information I needed to hunt them down. I'm a little older than I look. In the 51st Century humans can expect to live to roughly 150 years. The oldest human I know about is 191 years old. He can't really do much and is on life support, but he's the oldest known human."

"One hundred and fifty…years?" She didn't look as old as she claimed. Alexis tried to think about that.

"They were all made and sent as babies to their new locations where they grew up," Kim explained.

Alexis tried to think about that. "Kate was adopted? But her dad always talks about her as being his from birth. He's never said anything about adopting anyone." This was a shock.

"Sorry to break it to you." Kim was really starting to like her. She was adapting to the truth rather quickly.

"You're looking for you. I mean the clones of you. But you can travel through time. Why can't you just–" Kim broke in.

"Go back in time and prevent them from taking me in the first place or any number of events?" Kim watched as Alexis nodded.

"One of the hazards of time travel. There are certain events that can't be changed. Certain points in time that I can't reach. Some things are meant to happen." Kim had already tried that. The results had taken Jill weeks to explain.

Alexis became silent as she thought about everything she'd been told. "So why are you here? Kate isn't a baby anymore."

Now came the part Kim knew was going to hurt her. "I'm hunting each me down so that I can kill them and destroy the DNA. There can only be one me. To think that there are several of me is…disgusting." Kim's skin had actually crawled when she found out.

"WHAT!" Alexis jumped off the bed. " _ **NO!**_ Please. You can't kill Kate. Dad loves her. He withdrew from life when she was shot and almost entirely disappeared after we were told…" Alexis realized what she was saying.

Kim said it for her. "She was dead."

"But you don't know. None of us ever saw her again. She could still be alive. PLEASE, KIM!" Alexis didn't see the problem. "Kate is loved by several people, no one more than my dad. She has made a life. She's good at her job. A lot of murders might have gone unsolved without her. She affected the lives of a countless number of people. You can't kill her." Alexis would plead for Kate's life and do what she needed to.

"If you kill her you're going to affect time. Change our future. Create another one of those events that you can't reach." Alexis didn't know but it made sense to her.

Kim opened her mouth to counter her theory and then closed it. "Jill?" Was she right? Granted none of the other clones had been anything like this one. This clone had obviously affected a large number of people.

Jill couldn't rule it out. _"She has a point. To know for sure we would need to return home and contact him to verify."_

"See!" Alexis took it and was willing to run with it for all she was worth.

Kim started shaking her head. "You don't understand. In the 51st century literally everything is for sale or can be bought. There are entire planets up for sale. There isn't anything you can't buy. Who you are is the only thing left. Your DNA, your soul is all that's truly yours. They stole that from me. There can only be **ONE** OF ME! Just the one." Kim held up a single finger.

Alexis knew she didn't understand what was so special.

"If there were twelve of you, what would you think? Except for their memories, each one is an exact duplicate. Say one of them goes on a killing spree. It has your DNA. You will all be hunted down and since you can't prove which of you did it, you **all** have to pay." Did Alexis truly understand now?

Alexis knew her mouth fell open at the prospect and the challenges of what she was asking for.

"There has to be something, some loophole. Kate is the nicest person you'll ever meet. If your loved one was murdered, she would do all she could to solve it and bring the killer to justice. She already has countless times. Why do you think she was shot?" Alexis didn't know why for sure, but it was likely a result of one of her cases. Why they had killed only her and not her dad, she didn't want to think about. She was just glad that her dad was still alive.

"I've found who shot her. As far as he knew Kate was dead. He had arranged for her body to be intercepted and taken away. He was quite shocked when he saw me," Kim informed her.

"You found out who shot her?" Alexis was shocked. No one knew that and she had done it in just a couple of days. "Who? Is he still alive? We need to tell Ryan and Espo. Have him picked up, interrogated, and arrested." Alexis searched her body for her phone but came up empty. "Where is he? Did he tell you why?" Alexis was full of questions. "Please don't kill her. Please. She's done so much for others. She's made a life for herself. A good one. …Even if she is a little reserved." She hadn't always been that nice to her dad.

"Promise you won't kill her. Let me fight for her life. In our system we have courts. Let me make an argument for her to live. If you're human you must have something similar. You don't just kill people." Surely Kim wasn't a cold blooded killer!

Kim wasn't Kate, but maybe Kate was still alive. She needed to rescue her dad…and Kate.


	9. Chapter 9

**One**

 **Chapter 9**

" _The phone Cedri_ _c_ _Marks was using is presently in use. He appears to be attempting to call him back_ _,_ _"_ Jill suddenly announced.

"Time to go, he may know where Kate's located." Kim jumped off the bed. "Armor." These people seemed only too willing to kill others for any reason so it was a prudent precaution.

"Kate?" Alexis was interested. "Please don't kill her. Give her…give **me** a chance," Alexis pleaded one last time. "Take me with…" Alexis threw up a hand to try and block out the bright light, "you." She was gone. Alexis turned to look at the door which was still closed. Talking to anyone else was out. For one they would never believe her. "Please," Alexis begged the ceiling.

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Kim arrived in a flash of light and saw an overweight man holding a phone. He spotted her and froze. It was easy to discern that this one wasn't as well trained. She was on him in a heartbeat and had him on the floor. A quick knock to his head and he was unconscious. It gave her time to tie him up and leave him in place.

It was a living room. "This guy's a pig." There was what she took to be trash everywhere. The furniture was old and a little ratty. There were also papers all over the place. She picked one up. "Jill?" It was unfamiliar to her.

" _It is called a_ _n_ _ewspaper on this planet in this time. It is used to convey information as well as advertise items for sale."_

Kim dropped the paper and moved to another room. "Kitchen, I'm guessing." It didn't look as nice as the ones she had seen, but it did look like one. Then something caught her eye and she walked over to it, not trusting it even while still wearing her armor. "Jill?" Kim opened the box next to it while Jill spoke.

" _It is a syringe. It is a primitive_ _medical device_ _used to inject a chemical into a body. The box contains a little under one thousand of them."_

"What does he need these for? …Scan him."

" _Scan complete. I find no foreign chemicals in him. However, he has a trace amount of a_ _diamorphine on his hands._ _C_ _21_ _H_ _23_ _NO_ _5_ _is the chemical composition."_

"A drug that you inject." Kim moved over to the refrigerator and opened it. Inside she found a small box that was still wrapped in plastic. Inside it were twelve small bottles. Kim took out the entire box and removed a bottle. "Analyze this stuff for me. What's it used for?" If he wasn't taking it, who was? Maybe there were more than just him.

" _The liquid is derived from opium, a byproduct of the poppy plant,_ _which_ _is refined into morphine. A common drug used to relieve pain_ _, it_ _can further be modified into this substance. It can be made into a white or brown powder or a black sticky substance, in addition. It can be smoked, inhaled through the nose, or injected under the skin into muscle or directly into the veins. It delivers a potent effect of euphoria. It is extremely addictive and can cause any number of medical issues."_

Kim was still examining the bottle and picked up a syringe.

" _He has a great deal of her DNA on him. His hands, his face, his body, including his_ _penis_ _. He has been in direct contact with her recently. Within the last hour."_

Hearing that, Kim dropped everything, pressed a series of panels, and moved her arm around. "Got you." Kim turned that way and activated her weapon, blowing a hole in the outside wall.

Going through it, she followed where her scan was taking her. Just around the corner, next to an exterior door, she found a set of doors in the ground at an angle. The doors were locked using a chain and a padlock. One quick shot took care of that.

It was dark so she touched a series of panels and a light rose up out of her back. Going in and down the stairs her night vision showed that there was a common switch that would turn on some lights. Kim left it for now, preferring to have an advantage.

There was a body across the way lying on the floor. Switching to infrared showed that the body was still warm indicating that the person was alive.

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Alexis didn't know what to do. Kim was gone and she really didn't understand just how. "Space and time? …Isn't there something?" It sounded so familiar and yet different.

Her dad's voice intruded on her thoughts. "Where's Kate?"

She looked up and saw him at the doorway. His presence left her wanting to say so many things, to ask him so many questions. Then Alexis remembered that she was mad at him and glared at him like Kate had taught her. "Are you done cleaning?"

Rick was just about ready to give her a piece of his mind. Right up until he heard the dryer buzz, letting him that it was done. "Yeah, I mean, no." Rick deflated. It was all things he was used to doing, just not while his daughter was mad at him.

Alexis watched him leave and got up and closed the door again. If Kim came back, she didn't want her dad catching her doing it. He needed to keep thinking that Kim was Kate.

Alexis was just starting to question if Kim really was coming back. If she killed Kate, was she cleared to just leave them? Killing Kate was why she was here. Then there was a brilliant flash. "KIM!" Alexis was actually glad to see her. Hopefully she had good news.

"I found her but I really think you should let me kill her." Besides wanting to get rid of the DNA, it might be best for her.

Alexis was up and in front of her. "You found her?" Alexis couldn't remember being this happy. "You didn't…kill her?" Had her pleas actually reached her?

Kim held out a small bottle to her. "What's this?" Alexis had seen it before, mostly with Lanie at work.

"I believe she has been given this a great deal for an extended period of time."

Alexis looked at it closely. She knew what this was. "HEROIN?!" Alexis was shocked. She had feared the worst, but that was that Kim would kill her. Not this.

"How much?" Alexis was torn. She did and didn't want to know. Instead of Kim answering her question, suddenly there was a 3D image being projected on the floor.

"This is Kate?" Alexis bent down to get a better look and even walked around her like she really existed. "Oh Kate, what have they done to you?" Alexis wasn't sure she was a fan of Kate given how she had treated her dad in the past. But she had never wanted this.

She glanced at Kim. "She's still alive, right?" Maybe they could still help her. Kim nodded and Alexis frantically searched her body for her phone. "Don't move, don't blink, don't…leave." Alexis pointed at Kim like she meant it or else and ran to her room where her phone was on her charger.

Alexis ran back to the room where she closed the door and started breathing again when she found Kim was right where she left her. "Don't move," Alexis commanded and began looking through her phone until pressing send.

"Come on, pick up, pick up." Alexis willed her to answer the phone. "LANIE! We found…found someone and she needs serious help. I need you and Javi and Ryan to go get her. Don't ask questions, Lanie, just get them and go get her." Alexis would worry about the questions later.

Alexis covered the phone. "Where is she? I need an address." Alexis listened to Jill provide an address. "Please hurry and take your medical bag with you. Call me when you find her. Please hurry, Lanie. **NO** , just get there! You have 10 minutes." Alexis hung up on her.

Alexis needed to think and started pacing. "Can you take me there?" Alexis didn't know what she could do, but she really wanted to see for herself.

Kim shook her head. "The Vortex Manipulator only functions for the person wearing it. I can't take you or anyone else anywhere."

Alexis started cursing and saw the look on Kim's face. "What?"

Kim considered telling her but chose to shake her head instead. "It's nothing. I should probably go back." She suddenly thought it might be best if she were there instead of here.

"Please don't kill her. You promised," Alexis pleaded just as Kim lifted her arm to press a series of panels on her arm. Kim was all set to tell her that she hadn't promised but pressed the last panel and was gone in a flash of light.

"What happened, Kate?" Alexis chose to collapse onto the bed and wait.

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Kim pressed a series of panels and vanished from sight. "Armor," Kim said softly, holding her ground and observing her clone lying on the floor. A concrete floor and she was even chained to the wall.

She lifted her arm, pressed a series of panels, and studied the result. "Unconscious and recently drugged." Kim turned and looked at the male she'd tied up and left lying on the floor, equally unconscious. Then she scanned him and studied the result. "Jill?" Kim asked softly. There was something she didn't quite understand and wanted confirmation.

Jill confirmed what Kim was thinking. _"If I understand your question correctly, there is her DNA, saliva on his_ _penis_ _._ _A s_ _can of her body indicates that there are remnants of his semen in her mouth and throat."_

"Shot, drugged, and made to provide oral sex. Likely to get the drug." Kim was starting to think that killing her was the better idea. The question was how to convince Alexis of it.

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Espo parked the car and looked into the back seat where Lanie was sitting. "Okay, Lanie, why are we here?"

"Alexis was insistent and we've only got…" Lanie looked at her watch. "Three minutes before she calls me again and demands an update." Lanie had coerced them into coming and taking her with them.

Espo and Ryan got out of the car. Espo opened the trunk, then they both pulled out their flack vests and put them on. "Stay here." Espo looked at Lanie and meant it. Lanie didn't notice that this was what Kate always told Castle.

With weapons out they took the front door. "Back up?" Ryan questioned quietly.

"For what? Even Lanie doesn't know why we're here." To him this smelled like friends helping friends. Just who was helping who was the question.

Espo tried the door and found it unlocked. With a look at Ryan, he opened the door and entered slowly and carefully.

The first thing they both noticed was that the place was a dump and it stank to high heaven. Motioning to the opening to another room Ryan covered Espo as he moved into the room.

"Javi." Ryan motioned with his head to the open door leading out back. Out there they found an open door to a cellar. "An old air raid shelter or basement."

"Shit!" Espo cursed in an undertone since it was dark down there and all either of them saw was the start of wooden steps leading down. It meant they needed to use their flashlights to see anything. It's just that if there was someone down there those same flashlights would announce their presence.

Espo didn't like it but he beamed his light down the steps while Ryan ducked from side to side to see if he could see anything. "This better be worth it." Espo hated it but he started down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs Ryan found a switch and turned on the lights. Espo instantly saw the man on the floor.

"Javi." Ryan had seen someone else – a partially naked woman lying on the same floor.

Espo moved over to the guy while Ryan took the woman. "Out cold and trussed up like a stuffed pig." Whoever had tied him had done a good job. Espo checked his pulse just to be sure.

"JAVI, get over here!" Ryan had found something and it wasn't what he was expecting. Espo joined him and looked down at the almost nude female. "It's Beckett!" Ryan looked up at Espo in complete shock.

That had Espo looking for himself. "I'll be damned! How did she get here?" Especially when she was supposed to be dead or with Castle in the Hamptons.

Ryan spotted something else and lifted up one of her arms. "Javi." It was bad news.

Espo looked at what he was showing him. "SHIT!" There were little red spots all in a line. A lot of them.

"What do we do?" Ryan wasn't sure since he hadn't been expecting this.

"Lanie." Maybe this was why Lanie had insisted on coming. But why hadn't she shared what she knew?

"We need to get her to a hospital, Javi." Beckett looked like a mess to him.

Espo pulled out his cell phone to make the call and then stopped. "We take her to a hospital and we'll have to fill out multiple reports about all of this. Gates will get involved and have our heads. Worse if Beckett is an addict now, her days in the NYPD have just come to an end. She can't even get a rent a cop job. No one will hire an ex-addict." Espo saw a bigger problem and that was even IF Kate got clean.

Both of them spun and raised their weapons when they heard a sound. What they saw was Lanie coming down the stairs with her bag in hand.

She saw the man all tied up first and then Espo and Ryan next to an almost naked woman. She chose those three. Ryan and Espo stood there and watched as Lanie looked for herself. "KATE!" Lanie couldn't believe it. She had seen Beckett already and she had lost her memory. Lanie looked up at the two of them and then back down at her. Lanie started looking her over. Right up until she found the spots on her arm. "Oh, Kate." Lanie's heart began to break. Her best friend had been turned into an addict using a drug that she could only guess at.

Espo didn't understand and questioned her. "How is it Beckett? She's dead or with Castle with no memory."

Lanie was saved from answering when her cell phone rang. Seeing the caller Lanie took the call. "Alexis."

"Please tell me you found her." Alexis knew who they were supposed to find thanks to Kim.

"It looks like Kate, but how did you know?" Lanie was filled with questions.

"Get her to a hospital. Please Lanie don't ask questions just help her." Kate was going to need a lot of help if she believed what Kim had told her.

Lanie looked at Espo who had likely heard every word. Espo shook his head and told Lanie what he and Ryan had already talked about.

Lanie looked between Espo and Kate. She might never work again but at least she would be alive. Not that her life was going to be all that good anymore. Plus getting her off whatever this drug was was likely going to be difficult.

Alexis had already planned for this. "Bring her here, Lanie. Don't ask questions just bring her here. Dad has money, he can afford a live in nurse to watch her 24/7. Let me make a call and a car from the service we use will arrive to bring her here." She didn't like the silence on the other end. "Get moving, Lanie, before something else goes wrong." Alexis hung up on her to reinforce her point.

"You heard her, help me get her upstairs." Lanie was willing to do as she was told. Especially since she was going to go with Kate on the drive out to the Hamptons.

Ryan pointed at the guy all tied up on the floor. "What about him?"

Espo thought about it and had only one answer. "If he's allowed to talk then Kate's doomed. Those arms, her blood work, and his testimony will destroy her; she'll never work in law enforcement again. Gates will have teams down here gathering evidence." Both of them knew Gates hated all cops and wouldn't listen. Kate's days as a detective would be over.

Ryan made his choice knowing just what Javi was asking of him. "Let's get her upstairs and in the car. We'll take care of him."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Lanie looked at Kate who was lying unconscious in the back of the car and turned to look at the guys. "You two are sure about this?" Lanie knew that if his body was ever found it would be up to her to lose all the documentation and the body itself if he was sent her way.

"Just go." Ryan had made his choice and didn't want to think about it or he might change his mind. It was going to be a dark secret he could never talk about.

"Be sure to call us and tell us what the hell is going on, chica." First Kate had amnesia and now she was half-naked and hooked on drugs in some guy's basement.

Ryan and Espo headed back down into the basement to figure out a plan. They needed to get him out of the basement, into their car, and bury the body where no one would ever find it.

Lanie got out her cell phone after checking on Kate. "Alexis, we're headed your way now."

"How is she?" Kim hadn't really told her much more than the drugs.

"She's bad, Alexis, really bad. I don't think she's had her gunshot wound tended to properly. It looks infected and I don't know what drug she's been given or what it's done to her. You sure about this?" A hospital would be better.

"We'll be ready, just get her here. …And it's heroin, Lanie. They've got her addicted to heroin." Alexis hung up on her before Lanie could begin questioning her about how she knew all that.

Lanie stared at her phone in shock. How did Alexis know so much? "Oh god, Kate." Getting her off heroin was going to be hell and take a lot of time.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

Kim watched the two men carry the body up out of the basement. Once she was sure they were gone she scanned the room, pulled out her vial of blue liquid, and started pouring it in various locations. Mostly where Kate had been tied to the wall. Kim needed to make sure it was all gone. "Jill?"

Jill confirmed that as of now Kate was never there. _"All traces of viable DNA from her have been destroyed. That just leaves her. Now what?"_

"That's a good question," Kim answered as she touched a series of panels and vanished.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

There was a brilliant flash of light. Alexis saw her arrive back in her room. "KIM!" The young woman walked right up to Kim and wrapped her arms around her. Alexis didn't know how she was going to thank her or how she was going to fight for Kate's life, since she was betting Kim still wanted to kill her.

"Is she in as bad a shape as it sounds?" Alexis took a step back and saw Kim nod. Alexis took a deep breath. "Two hours, we need to be ready." The almost overwhelming problem was her dad was the one with all the contacts. It meant she was going to have to explain a lot of things to him.

Alexis pointed at Kim and turned to leave in search of her dad. "Don't leave…please." She stopped in her tracks and added, "It's the right thing and you know it." But she didn't hear Kim say anything. The redhead continued, "This is the 21st century, not the 51st. No one needs to know that she's even alive. Anything she does can't be traced to you. And Kate isn't a killer. You'll see." Alexis left the room in search of her dad.

Now came the hard part. She was still mad at her dad and when he found out what she knew, he was going to be furious. She took out her cell phone as she walked. "Lanie, we need a plan. Dad's going to be over the top pissed, because he thinks Kim is Kate. We need proof that this time it really is Kate." Alexis was trying to think of what to say already.


	10. Chapter 10

**One**

 **Chapter 10**

Rick stood there fuming as he watched one of the cars from the service company he used start down the drive to where he, Alexis, and Martha were standing along with a nurse.

He had never seen Alexis as angry as she had been when he had begun asking why he needed to get a very good nurse here from wherever he could find her and that he had less than 2 hours to do it. The tone of her voice told him that she was now beyond furious with him. He had never had her give orders to him like she had been. He'd talked his mother into asking her what was going on. Except his mother came back with, "Just do it, Richard." That had and hadn't told him much. However a helicopter landed out back and out came a nurse. He'd tried to find someone local to no avail. Then he'd had to call in a few favors and offer to pay a huge amount of money to finally get someone. The helicopter alone had been expensive but it was peanuts compared to what he'd had to offer to get her out here.

"Alexis?" Maybe she was willing to talk now that everything was here.

"Not now, Dad," Alexis answered softly. Though it really wasn't enough for Rick.

"Alexis!" His anger over it all was beginning to flare and he wanted answers.

"SHUT UP DAD! Just stand there and wait." Rick was taken aback. She had never raised her voice to him in the past. Not even after… It was the only reason that he held his tongue and waited, frustrated. He hadn't seen Kate in hours and had no idea where she was.

He had been hustling to clean the house since no one had been out here this year. It didn't help that he was a little out of shape since he'd barely left his bed over the last 3 months or more. Running around cleaning was taking it out of him.

Then had come the revelation that it was necessary for him to find room for a patient along with a room for a nurse. It was stretching the resources of the house to its limits. The person coming needed a nurse's care that badly so he had given up the master bedroom to both of them. He was going to be sleeping on the hide-a-bed.

The car pulled up and the driver got out and quickly moved around to this side and opened the door. What he saw wasn't what he was expecting. "Hi, Castle, give us a hand." Lanie stepped out and motioned for Rick to move in and help the driver.

Lanie saw what was clearly a nurse. "Have you got a place to take her?"

"Yes ma'am, we have everything we should need." Susan Bader had come there with everything she could lay her hands on for a person suffering from an infected gunshot wound along with what was necessary for a person trying to detox from heroin. It was part of why she had asked for so much money. Finding out it was famous author Richard Castle requesting her services had reinforced her demand for so much. Her only real issue was her lack of experience working with people that were trying to kick the habit. She hadn't worked at all with people that were addicted.

Kim was actually there and was standing invisible at the front door, observing with all the others.

"Move it writer-boy." Lanie knew who was in the car and what her condition was. Lanie was really worried for her friend. She was in really bad shape. Her phone calls with Espo and Ryan had only reinforced why they were doing this. Kate needed to be healed and feeling better before coming out into the light. Someone had shot her and then they had grabbed her from the hospital. Knowing that the hospital had said nothing concerned all three of them greatly. Then there was the mortuary who had also said nothing. All of this spoke of someone with power being involved.

"Easy, easy." The driver started off doing most of the work until Rick could get in and help.

" **WHAT! HOW?** "Rick looked at Lanie after he'd gotten a closeup view of who this person was. Granted Lanie had wrapped her up completely until she almost looked like a mummy. The part of her he could see was her face and looking like a mummy was an apt description for her. Her eyes were sunken and she had almost no color.

"Just help, Castle; we'll talk later." Lanie wasn't willing to just stand there and answer his questions. Questions she didn't have many answers for.

Rick was bursting with questions and yet his heart was hurting at the same time. One question he had was, _how the hell had Kate…Kim, gotten out of the house and hurt this badly?_ As they moved toward the front door he shot a solid glare at his daughter who as they started past her, had a look of shock on her face.

"OH GOD, KATE!" Alexis had seen people that were hurt, but Kate looked worse than all of them. Kim hadn't been lying to her about how bad a shape she was in.

Kim retreated to watch from a distance. Rick was giving directions as they entered the house. He and the driver set Kate down and the driver left; Rick lingered, filled with questions and pain.

"OUT!" Lanie started pushing Rick from the room.

"Lanie?" Rick wasn't even remotely interested in leaving.

"Let us work, Castle. We have a lot to do. Now **OUT!** " Rick was too shocked over all of it to put up much resistance and found his own bedroom door closing in his face and then being locked. He could hear Lanie's muffled voice through the door, though. "Right! Let's get to work."

Going back downstairs he found his mother with her arms around Alexis. A look of pain was on his mother's face. Rick was all set to give his daughter a piece of his mind, but hearing her muffled cries softened his stance. "That was Kate wasn't it." Alexis nodded.

"I don't understand. When and how did she leave the house and how did she get this badly hurt?" All Rick saw was the injuries and none of the evidence that it wasn't the same person as he was referencing.

Alexis began her explanation while holding onto Martha for all she was worth. "That's the real Kate, Dad, and not Kim." Rick tried to think this through while Alexis continued. "She was taken from the hospital and held. I think they meant to kill her and bury her body out in the woods, never to be found. But the man they used decided otherwise. He kept her. Kate's an addict now…heroin."

He stared at his daughter in horror. Then he spun in place, looking up the stairs where he'd carried Kate and back at his daughter. "Heroin." He tried it on for size and started thinking of the implications for her. They were all bad.

"How do you–" He started another question only to have his daughter turn away from Martha and look at him with those same hate filled eyes.

"Because I didn't disappear after she was shot. Because I didn't shut down and lock out the world like you did, Dad. I went to school, asked questions, learned what _you_ didn't." Alexis tried to hang onto her anger. She needed her dad to wake up and think and act. "Are you going to help or do I need to send you back to the city?" Alexis left Martha and stomped off leaving her shaken father in her wake.

"She has a point, Richard. Katherine is here now and she needs help. How much help are you going to offer this time? Or would you like a drink instead?" Martha wasn't as mad at him as Alexis appeared to be, but she wasn't happy with him, either.

"Whatever it takes, Mother. Whatever it costs." He just hoped he had enough money to fix her. "Heroin." He shook his head in bewilderment, wondering how Kate had become addicted. He left his mother and looked at Alexis who was going out the back door as he headed for his study.

It was time to do some research on what it took to kick heroin and what he needed to expect as Kate recovered. He had no illusions; it was going to be bad. But he loved her fiercely so there was nothing she could do or say that would stop him from helping.

Alexis knew what to look for even though Kim was invisible. "It's bad, isn't it?" Alexis hadn't gotten far after leaving the house.

"Yes," Kim responded quietly, not surprised that Alexis had spotted her. She was learning to like the young woman.

"I can't stay mad at Dad much longer. It hurts too much." Alexis was fighting off crying. She hated being this mad at her dad. If there was one bright spot, it was that her mother hadn't put in an appearance. She loved her mother, she did. Even if her mother was such a… She couldn't say the word. It was too hateful even if true. "Just stay gone, Mother."

Then Alexis had an idea. "You're from 51st century – don't they have something that will help? You can be there and back in a heartbeat. It might be a year to you but a second to me." Alexis looked at where Kim was standing. "I know what I'm asking might be a lot, but you must see that Kate is special to a lot of people. …Please, won't you help?" Surely medicine had advanced a lot in 30 centuries.

Kim had known this was coming the second she had seen her condition. "And if I want payment?" She didn't mean money.

Alexis was pretty sure she knew her dad was rich so it wasn't money. That meant it was something more personal. "And if I say no?" What were the stakes in this deal?

"You're correct, medicine in the 51st century is better than in the 21st." Kim had considered this and though she was ready to offer, she wondered if – and this was a big if – calling in a few favors was going to be enough.

"Keep in mind that what I can bring will be limited. It needs not be questioned to the point that it isn't used." Kim was reminding her that she couldn't take Kate to the 51st century for treatment.

Alexis thought she understood. "So I'll need to be creative to get Lanie to use it. What do you want?" _Of me_ were her unspoken words.

"You said I shouldn't just kill my clones. I don't think you truly understand what you're asking of me." Kim stared at her with hard look. "Are you willing to fight – not just for your Kate but for the other four of me that I need to hunt down?" Was Alexis smart enough to get the message in regards to what she was offering?

Alexis caught her look which wasn't easy since she was hard to see. "You can't take me with you, so either you're willing to bring me everything you learn or… You're serious?! You have a way to let me come with you? Another of those…things. Vortex Manipulator." Was that what Kim was offering?

"You're young, you're brilliant in your own way. You stood up to your father which tells me you're driven when you want to be. And to be honest…" Kim shook her head. She wasn't ready to travel down that road just yet. "Plus my own research tells me you're willing to learn. So do you want to learn something truly unique? To go where no one from your century has ever gone? To work with me wherever it takes us in search of my clones?

"Keep in mind that while I might be swayed at the moment to let Kate live, the other clones are totally another matter. You'll have your work cut out for you. It **will** be a challenge. Do you think you're up for it?"

"Help Kate and travel through time and space with you?" Alexis needed to think about it. "You go get what Kate needs and start teaching me about you. I need to know you before I commit myself to following you. What if I don't like you? No offense," she added quickly.

Kim actually laughed. Alexis was smarter than she had given her credit for. "Deal. I'll be right back." She raised her arm and touched a series of panels while Alexis lifted a hand to block out the light.

"I hope I know what I'm doing," Alexis managed to say to herself before there was a brilliant flash of light. A very visible Kim was back an instant later. Alexis began to laugh. "I'm going to have to get used to that, aren't I?" Kim might have been gone hours to her but that device meant she was back a moment later.

"Here, I'll be out on the beach when you're ready to talk. I really would like for you to come, but as you say, you need to learn. I've learned what I need to know, so I need to offer you the same chance." Kim handed it over. "There are directions on the inside. Make sure they follow them precisely," she warned her. She smiled at Alexis and turned to leave.

Alexis was left standing there holding a box. It was about the size of a music box except this one was all silver in color. "Only you can open it," Kim called over her shoulder. "51st century," she reminded her as she continued walking.

Alexis clutched it to her chest. If this did what she hoped, it meant good news for her dad. However, it also meant she would be leaving him. "Vortex Manipulator." It meant she could come home whenever she chose. Literally whenever.

"I hope I'm up to this," Alexis said to herself. She had to save Kate first before she fought for the other four Kates or Kims. "How long could it take?"

"A lifetime!" Kim yelled, having heard everything Alexis had told herself.

That had Alexis looking at how far out Kim already was. "How?" Alexis answered her own question, "…51st century." She sighed, steeling herself for what was to come. She went back inside and continued up the stairs. Thankfully she didn't see her dad. She knocked on the master bedroom door. Lanie's voice rang out. "Go away, Castle, or I'll hurt you."

"It's me, Alexis, and I have something that should help. Unlock the door." It only took a moment for Lanie to open it and look past her to make sure Castle wasn't using Alexis to worm his way in.

"It's just me and I have this for Kate. It has directions inside it." Alexis opened the box and handed it over. "Use it, Lanie, and don't ask me any questions. Kate really needs what's in it."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Lanie really did have a lot of questions but at the moment Kate was her main concern. "Please use it, Lanie, it will help." Alexis was putting trust in Kim. Besides if Kim really did want Kate dead she could have killed her after finding her, then leaving and never looking back. Plus if she did agree she was going to learn exactly what it was.

"Help her Lanie, dad really needs her." If Kate died, Alexis really feared for her dad. Alexis let her close and lock the door. She walked away and stood there in case they needed something.

Lanie went back to Susan and together they read what it said. "What is it?" The R.N. wasn't convinced they should use what they didn't know what it was.

"We need ice if we're going to get her this cold." Lanie had read the directions, and while she had never heard of this procedure, Kate needed help badly. She really feared that the infection was doing serious damage. Lanie opened the door and was mildly surprised to find Alexis still standing there. "We need ice, lots and lots of ice. Enough to fill the tub."

"I'll get it." Alexis got out her phone and started walking. Her dad may know people but she knew companies in the Hamptons and she had her dad's credit card. All those shopping trips into town were going to pay off.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

"Alexis." She cringed at the sound of his voice – her dad had caught her. Knowing she had to face the music eventually, she really hoped he didn't ask too many hard questions. Questions she knew she couldn't answer.

"Hi, Dad." Alexis waited for it.

"You've been avoiding me and I know I deserve it. But can we go back to the way things were? I promise to not disappear on you again. I know I screwed up." Rick was more than willing to eat humble pie if it meant his daughter didn't hate him anymore.

"Dad–" Alexis started to try and say something.

"GREAT!" Rick wrapped his arms around her. "I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore." He hugged her a little tighter.

"I'm going to go see Kate." Alexis wasn't mad at him anymore and Kate was in his bedroom.

Alexis stopped him cold. "You mean Kim."

He pointed at one bedroom and then his with a look of shock and confusion on his face. "I'm…going…to go now." Rick began backing up until he hit something and started laughing at himself. "I'm really glad you're not mad at me anymore." He hurried to the master bedroom.

"I'm glad we're not mad at each other, either," Alexis said softly, even if she still was. Though she had to admit that staying angry with her dad was a lot harder than she thought.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"OUT, CASTLE! GET OUT!" Rick had the bedroom door slammed in his face. He'd wanted to see Kate and hadn't let a locked door deter him. After all, it _was_ his house and his bedroom so he knew where the spare key to the door was. But what he hadn't planned for was having Lanie twist his ear off the second he got two steps into the room. He was left standing there holding his ear. The one that was throbbing, still telling him that Lanie twisted far harder than Kate ever had.

"AND STAY OUT OR I REALLY WILL HURT YOU!" Lanie yelled through the door.

"I know it's none of my business but why?" Susan had obviously seen and heard everything.

Lanie sighed heavily. "He loves her and despite her denials, she loves him just as much. But if you loved someone that much would you want to see what she looks like now? Have that burned forever into your memory? He needs to remember what she looked like before this."

The nurse saw her point, though she hoped that he would only see what he wanted to see, not what he did see. "And we're using that?" She pointed to the box they were given.

Lanie was torn. "Have you had much experience with getting someone off heroin?" She needed to know what to expect.

"I know what to do for her wound but no, I haven't worked with someone who has an addiction. I wasn't told that she had one," Susan said defensively.

Lanie was glad to have her since Kate was in really bad shape. It also told her that yes, they would be using what was in that box. Hearing Kate groan had them running. It was starting and they were both going to be challenged.


	11. Chapter 11

**One**

 **Chapter 11**

"What **is** all this?" Rick was watching as bag after bag was offloaded from a large truck.

"Ice," Alexis answered, like it was obvious. "Lanie needs ice so I arranged for a delivery."

"There's enough ice to fill an Olympic sized pool." He didn't understand the need for so much of it.

"Well the tub in your bathroom is rather big, Dad."

He didn't remember his tub being that big, either. Then it hit him. "KATE NEEDS ICE!" Why did Kate need ice? And why this much? He pivoted to look at Alexis. "What are you not telling me?" It was his house and Kate was in it. Lanie had thrown him out and even his daughter was keeping him in the dark.

"So much, Dad, so very much." Alexis was teasing except that she also knew it was the truth. "Leave Lanie and the nurse alone. Let them do their jobs."

Martha made an appearance. "What's with all the ice?" She took a jab at her son. "I don't think your bedroom is big enough for an ice rink, kiddo."

"I think Lanie's trying to entomb Kate in ice." Rick was seriously beginning to believe it.

"So it **is** Katherine. What happened to Kim or are they one in the same?" Martha was lost as to just who was who.

"I don't know. Lanie won't let me near her. As for Kim, I haven't seen her since yesterday. I have no idea where she is." Rick didn't see how they could be the same person. He knew Kate had come via a car service which meant the city and not the Hamptons. It didn't add up.

"I'm going to go find out if Lanie has enough ice." Alexis felt the need to get away before they started asking questions. Questions she still couldn't answer.

Rick stopped at the bottom of the stairs. For a moment he considered busting through the door once Lanie opened it and getting a look at Kate. But he knew that wouldn't be wise since Alexis had only just stopped hating him. Plus Lanie had shown that she was only too willing to use violence to keep him away.

He watched Alexis come back down the stairs. "Lanie has what she needs for now. However, the next thing she'll need is warmth. I'm thinking electric blankets or electric mattress pads."

Cold then hot? It didn't make sense to Rick. "I'll take care of it." If he couldn't actually help in person he could at least help.

"I'm heading for the beach. I need some quiet time to think. …Do _not_ piss Lanie off, Dad. Let her and the nurse do their job. You're a writer, not a doctor," Alexis reminded him and he saw his daughter leave.

Rick was conflicted though. Helping was in his nature even if he didn't know exactly what he was doing. But everyone was pissed at him, it seemed. Since he couldn't seem to do anything right he decided to go hunting for Kim. If she wasn't Kate then just who was she?

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Kim wasn't hard to find since she wasn't using her invisibility and she wasn't in her armor. Alexis sat down next to her and dug her toes into the sand. "Thank you…" she glanced over at her, "for the medicine for Kate." Alexis stared at her toes. "So who are you?" If she was going to pay off the debt for this she needed to get to know her.

Kim started with the basics. "My name actually is Kim. Kimberly Vaughn MacKenzie. My parents are Joseph and Mary MacKenzie. I was born on Raada in the Nebula system on November 17, 5921."

"Kate was born on November 17," Alexis stated in case she didn't know and was interested in the coincidence.

"Technically she was **made** in the year 5957."

Alexis was silent for a time. "So much to get used to. Things that I thought happened but didn't. …So you travel through time and space. Why did they scatter them? I mean making clones of anyone would mean they had a plan. They chose you for a reason."

She tilted her head. "You said you were the head of security. One would think that they wanted the clones to infiltrate the company you work for. Or did work for." Alexis was curious.

"The 51st century is different from anything you know. Years back, there was an interstellar clone war. A race called the Chagrian decided on a cloning technique and offered it to everyone else in the universe.

"A lot of planets took them up on their offer. But there are a number of planets that believe in the purity of race. The only problem was it wasn't just their race but everyone's. Enough of them banded together and started a war. Their plan was to pulverize the Chagrian home planet into dust.

"The human race had already had a _discussion_ over cloning. In the end we allowed the cloning of wildlife. It was a method of solving one of the food wars that we had."

She saw the look of confusion on Alexis's face. "When the human race developed its first interstellar drive they expanded out into the universe. It was like an explosion with no real control. The result was colonizing planets that couldn't support the numbers that went there.

"Some planets had more technology than others. This resulted in those planets using their power to force more habitable planets to produce more food and ship it off world."

Alexis thought she understood. "Slaves."

"In a manner of speaking, yes. This resulted in the food going off world being tainted at first and then finally being poisoned. There were also a number of resistance groups that tried to fight back. To make a very long story short, a peace was brokered by a group of alien planets. The Blue Eiffel."

"Sounds original." Alexis had always loved to learn; hearing all of this was informational and she was eating it up.

"Remind me to take you there. They have a mountain range that's filled with _Singing Stones._ When the wind blows at the correct velocity and direction, and the proper resonance is created, I'm told that the moment is inspirational. It brings everyone who hears it to tears. It's sometimes called _The Song of Life. …_ I've always wanted to hear it, but was never lucky enough. Perhaps the two of us will get lucky. It's said to be a life altering event." After she'd found out about the clones, she had prayed mightily for the chance to hear it. To change her life.

"Why do you hate clones so much? I would think that given the right circumstance they would be beneficial. I mean, if you needed a transplant you would always have a donor that was a match." Alexis thought that would be a good thing.

Kim sighed heavily. "Transplant rejection is no longer a problem, actually."

"Clones. There were twelve more of me. Maybe one is a rival to…Jill?" She needed a name that Alexis would understand.

" _Michelangelo_ _."_

"But what if one or more were Frank Smith?" Kim suggested then saw the look on Alexis's face. "Jill."

" _Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin."_

"Everywhere you went you would be recognized and not in a good way. Remember the clone wars? Well think what people would think of you if they didn't see you, but saw one of them." Since Alexis remained silent, she continued speaking. "You can buy literally anything except your DNA. There have been enough battles and wars fought over keeping what is yours, yours. There's only one of anyone for a reason. Just one of me. All of the other mes need to be killed and have their, **my** , DNA removed so that there can only be one. Just one." Kim held up a finger.

Alexis thought about it and saw the dangers. "In our movies there's a disease from cloning. Degradation of the DNA until the final clone can't stay alive because it has a disease that can't be cured. A clone from a clone from a clone isn't viable. Our early Xeroxes had that problem."

"Xerox?" Kim didn't understand.

Jill offered an explanation. _"A primitive paper copy usually of an original."_

"The Chagrian found a way around that. One of the reasons for the war," Kim answered.

Alexis thought about it all. "But all of your clones or at least Kate aren't in the 51st century. What could a clone in the 21st century do to you? It's not like any of them are your distant relatives…are they?" Alexis was thinking of a paradox. If she killed her great, great grandmother, would she still be born?

Kim made her offer. "Come with me and find out. The universe is a lot bigger than you think."

"Filled with space ships and aliens," Alexis smiled.

"In the 51st century, yes. But who says where we are going is the 51st century?"

"Time and space." Alexis was catching on. "Just how many Vortex Manipulators are there?"

Kim was silent for a time. "That's where this offer may fail. The person I got Jill from only had one other. Getting that one is going to be difficult."

"Just don't steal it," Alexis quickly told her, seeing the daggers Kim was sending her way. "Sorry, I still have a lot to learn about you. You did want to just kill Kate, after all. You said they made twelve and you have four left, not counting Kate. Are you sure they only made twelve? What if they made more?" Alexis queried.

Kim literally shivered and Alexis saw it. "I know what you think, and maybe you'll learn why I think what I do. The 51st century really is different. The culture, the people, the technology, the laws. …So different. You will have a lot to learn," Kim warned.

Alexis raised her head. "A challenge. I've lived my life giving myself challenges. Sounds like this will be a big one."

"Life changing. It may take a lifetime. Keep in mind time won't be a barrier. Come back when you wish. Visit who you please, when you please. Attend a wedding, perhaps," Kim teased.

The young woman started smiling. "So you're going to let Kate live?" Had she just caught Kim in a trap?

It had Kim laughing. "I was right, you **are** good. So was that a yes?" Her eyes twinkling, Kim smiled back at her.

Alexis thought about it and saw the trap she'd placed herself in. Though she wasn't mad. Alexis simply smiled at her.

"Prepare to be amazed. I'll be back." Kim raised her arm to press a series of panels. Alexis lifted a hand to block the light from hitting her eyes.

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"She's turning blue." Susan mentioned the obvious and it wasn't just because the patient was lying in a tub filled with ice. The directions hadn't mentioned anything about a color change.

Lanie looked at her watch to check the time. "Fifteen more minutes. Watch her, I'm going to go check on those electric blankets." The directions told them to inject her again and wrap her in warmth until she reached a certain temperature. "I'll be back, lock the door." She still wanted to keep Castle away from Kate.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Lanie found Castle in the kitchen putting away groceries while it looked like he was cooking at the same time. "Castle, have the electric blankets and mattress pads arrived? We need to warm her up." And Lanie needed to get back to her.

"Lanie! You're just the person I wanted to talk to." Castle knew to get in he had to go through her.

She wanted to stay on topic. "The answer is no, Castle. Now the blankets?"

"Lanie, please. Just give me a minute to say hi at least. Just hi. Come on, Lanie." If he couldn't muscle his way in maybe he could talk his way in.

"The answer is still no." Lanie saw him pout. "You only saw her face, Castle. As bad as that was, it was nothing compared to the rest of her. Besides, she can't stay awake long enough, anyway. She hasn't even recognized me yet." If Kate didn't know her, how was she going to recognize him?

"That bad? Are you and one nurse enough? I can get another." Castle started patting his pockets for his cell phone.

"We're fine, really, just fine. We're going to start trading off soon. I'm taking night while Susan takes days, and yes, she's that bad." Lanie sighed and decided to give him a bone.

"She was shot in the chest and it damaged her heart a little. After the surgery is when we're thinking they took her. Her wound was never properly cared for after they grabbed her. It's infected and it's spread. She may yet die, Rick." Lanie knew her breathing sounded bad and her heart rate was low as was her blood pressure. "We're doing everything we can to prevent it. What we don't know is what the heroin has done to her. She really is skin and bones now." Lanie wasn't sure what she had been eating.

Rick's heart kept sinking with every word. He was pretty sure it was in the sub-basement at this point.

"Maybe we'll try some broth for her tomorrow if she looks better. We have a long ways to go." Kate really was in bad shape.

"Broth? I can do that." And deliver it personally. Spoon feed her if Lanie would let him.

"Something simple, Castle. No spices of any kind. I doubt her system can handle much. So, blankets?" Lanie came down here for those. Castle pointed to a large pile on the coffee table.

Rick stopped her at the stairs. "Is she talking?"

"Just a lot of groaning. The drug is still in effect so she isn't really conscious yet," Lanie replied then started upstairs. She knew Kate was awake but wasn't really sure if she knew where she was.

Rick watched his heart fall with every step she took. It must be in some sub-sub-basement by now. "Broth!" He was going to make it from scratch and it was going to be his masterpiece.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Lanie kept an eye on him all the way back up to the room, not trusting Castle even a little.

Susan opened the door after Lanie announced herself. "She's awake!" Susan was beside herself. "She's even talking." Prior to this all Kate had done was groan, both with or without her eyes open. "She's also still a little blue."

Lanie moved as fast as she could over to Kate and dropped the blankets anywhere she could along the way. Lanie got down on her knees so that she was more at her eye level. "Kate," she said softly and gazed at her with hope and happiness in her eyes.

"Lanie." Kate's voice sounded like crap. Lanie reached for the glass that Susan had brought with her as part of her supplies. "Here, sip, just sip." Lanie watched her drink a little. "Ice chips?" Lanie looked at Susan who scurried off to get them. "How do you feel?" Lanie cursed herself for such a stupid question.

"Shit," Kate muttered. "Hurts." Kate didn't mean just physically even if that was what Lanie heard.

"We're working on that. We're going to get you better." Lanie stroked her hair.

"Where?" Kate meant where was she since nothing looked familiar.

That had Lanie smiling wide a little deviously. "You're in Castle's bed in the Hamptons. We brought you… WHAT?!" The look of pain of her face was evident.

"Lanie, no." She couldn't let Castle see her. Like this or ever.

"Kate, that man loves you. I know you think you're not ready, but don't keep pushing him away. You may lose him one of these times." Lanie needed her to understand.

"No, Lanie, no!" She couldn't let Castle love her. He deserved better.

"Girlfriend, he–" Lanie was interrupted when Susan handed over a cup filled with ice chips. "Thanks." Lanie took it and spooned a few into Kate's mouth.

"What do you remember? We lost track of you when they took you into the operating room. We don't know what happened after that."

Kate didn't bat an eye. "Everything." Kate didn't know how it was still possible but she started to cry.

"Everything about your shooting or everything about after that?" What did she remember?

"Everything," Kate answered again and her crying only increased.

"Kate, we're going to fix it, fix it all. It's not too late. We need to get you wrapped up." Lanie motioned for Susan to get the blankets since the instructions said to warm her up.

All Kate felt while they took care of her was pain and it only increased her tears. It wasn't just the pain of being moved but Lanie could see everything. "Go mix up some of that powder," Lanie told the R.N.

"Not morphine?" Susan had brought a fair amount with her.

"No, we're using what's in that box." Lanie was risking it and the directions did tell them not to mix chemicals after starting treatment.

"Here Kate, sip. It'll take the pain away." Lanie raised the straw to her mouth.

"Kill…me?" Kate asked. She just stared at the straw. Then she raised her head a little, stretched for it, and drank heavily till Lanie took it away. Lanie felt her heart break. She was pretty sure that Kate had just asked her to kill her or at least to let her die. "That's not happening Kate, not now, not ever." Lanie suddenly made up her mind. She was no psychiatrist but Kate needed a reason and she knew someone who could give it to her.

"Go get Castle, now!" Lanie told Susan who hesitated before quickly walking away.

"Lanie, no!" The pain was starting to go away and yet this pain was worse than the physical pain.

"Castle loves you, Kate, and despite your denials you love him, too. Let him love you, Kate; he never has cared about your real or your perceived faults. He loves you because of them." Lanie desperately hoped she knew that.

To Lanie it felt like forever, yet for Kate, it felt like seconds. "Oh, Kate…" It was Castle's voice. Lanie gave way and let him kneel down next to the bed. Rick whispered her name, "Kate." He could feel his tears starting as he reached out to stroke her hair.

"Cas…tle." Kate's tears were flowing a lot more heavily now. Her heart had always hurt but now it was hurting even worse. "No." He can't love her.

"Sshh, hush, Kate." Rick didn't want her talking. Her voice sounded rough and he thought it must hurt her to talk.

"Don't." It was all Kate could get out as her crying started to get heavier.

"Don't help you? You can't stop me now. …Don't love you? It's far too late for that." Rick leaned in and kissed her lips lightly.

Kate didn't want to and yet she did. She kissed him back and actually reached out to chase his lips when he stopped.

"Does she have to be all wrapped up like this?" Rick inquired of them both as he watched Susan plugging in the blankets.

"For the next several hours, then it's back into the tub filled with ice and another shot," Lanie replied.

Rick had never heard of such a thing, but if it got Kate better he would thank the universe and anyone else that was involved. Then he had an idea and since he was in the room he was going to take advantage of it.

He climbed into bed over Kate then rolled her gently so that she faced him, placed an arm around her, and pulled her wrapped-like-a mummy body into him. "Just sleep and get better, Kate. I'll be here. I'll always be here." Rick kissed her lips softly.

"Castle." Kate could barely see him for all her tears and felt him wipe some away. She had something else to say, but Castle shouldn't love her so she didn't.

Rick placed a finger on her lips. "Go to sleep, Kate. I'll be here." He replaced his finger with his lips and felt Kate kiss him back. "Sleep."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"You were right, she loves him," Susan told Lanie as they sat off to one side and watched the two of them.

"Kate's been in denial for so long. I'm not entirely sure what she fears. They've been dancing around each other for a long time. If there's anyone that can give Kate a reason to fight to live, it's Castle." And from where Lanie was sitting, he was doing just that.

"We're going to need another ice delivery. I'll go find Alexis." Susan got up and left. Lanie sat there staring at them.

"Love him back, Kate. …Please love him back." Lanie wanted her to be happy but she also wanted her best friend back. To heal her own broken heart.


	12. Chapter 12

**One**

 **Chapter 12**

Rick was still wide awake as he lay there and gazed at Kate's sleeping face. The fact that it was the only part of her he could see had nothing to do with it. He studied every bit of her face. Nothing he saw in any way changed his opinion on just how beautiful she truly was. Yes, while her eyes had been open, they lacked any of the life he had seen in them prior to this. Yes, her skin was pale, even more pale than Alexis's or his ex-wife's. Her lips were thin and lacked all of the fullness and _kiss me_ look they used to have. Also her teeth were no longer the white that he remembered.

The fact that they had done this to her only made him love her more. She had somehow survived long enough to be found. Then his mind when to just who had found her. No one had said a word about that and he had stupidly not asked. He made a mental note to inquire. For now he continued to study her face.

He noted her hair looked clean and he was betting Lanie and Susan had something to do with that. His memory told him that he had seen a bag hanging from the bed, but he'd paid it no mind. Now he was trying to guess what it was for. "A catheter," Rick told himself softly. But he couldn't remember seeing a tube making its way below all the blankets. He was betting Susan had something to do with that. After all, Lanie only worked with dead people. Then he had another question. Why was Lanie here and not at work? Wasn't she needed there? He resolved to ask her. He didn't want Lanie sacrificing her life or career for this.

Rick didn't want to risk using his finger to trace the lines of her face. She needed to sleep and recover her strength so he went back to studying her face again.

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Alexis didn't know if she should go back inside or stay there and wait. The decision was made for her when in a brilliant flash of light, Kim was back and dressed as normal for her. Meaning she looked a lot like Kate.

Alexis chuckled. "Do I want to know how long you've been gone, at least for you?" She was grinning as she continued to chuckle.

"No," Kim stated simply. "Okay, let's get you set up and introduce you to everything you'll be carrying around with you everywhere you go from now on." She was thinking until the day Alexis died, but who knew?

"Let's start with your back. You'll need to take your top off." Kim waited patiently as Alexis unbuttoned her top and took it off, leaving her sitting there on the sand wearing just her bra on top. Kim knelt down and showed it to her first. "It may not look like much but it does hold a number of things."

Alexis thought it looked like a soft, pliable, square piece of skin. "How does it fit?" All she saw was a thin piece of whatever it was made of. It actually appeared to be a little translucent.

"If I told you, you might not wear it. It'll feel a bit tingly like millions of little pin pricks until it's secured and you adapt to wearing it. After that you'll forget that it's even there." Kim laid it down on the sand.

"This little piece goes in your ear." Kim leaned her head down and tilted her left ear toward Alexis so she could look close.

"OH, I see." Alexis reached up a finger and tapped it. "What's it do?" It looked like a tiny hearing aid.

"It has a few purposes. When you deploy your weapon it will prevent the sound of it firing as well as the concussion of its use from damaging your ear drum. It also will amplify things that you can hear. At the same time it will translate whatever language is being spoken. The list of languages that it knows is almost endless." Kim placed it on the back plate.

"Next is this." Kim showed her a box, then opened it, and pulled out what to Alexis looked like a cat suit.

She raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly my style." It was a little sexy-looking and skin-tight.

That made Kim chuckle. "I'm wearing one at the moment. Have ever since you saw me. It's connected to the Vortex Manipulator and allows you to change what what you're wearing, or what it looks like you're wearing in an instant."

Alexis's eyes opened wide. "So you didn't wear the clothes that we bought you." She wasn't put out, it was just that she had gone shopping with the intent of helping her as Kate. She waved her hand before Kim could say anything. "Kate can wear them after she's better."

Kim showed her what looked like a bracer made of the same material as the back plate that she would be wearing. "And lastly, meet Jack."

"Jack?" Alexis was expecting another woman's name. Then she smiled and giggled a little. "Jack and Jill." She found it amusing. And started laughing at the look on Kim's face. "I'll explain later."

"Let's start with Jack, allowing him a chance to scan you and get used to you. Don't forget that Jack, like Jill, is a person. He'll adapt to you and you'll adapt to him. He hasn't been attached to anyone since his construction so he's a virgin," Kim informed her.

Alexis laughed outright; her mind had gone straight into the gutter.

"This will feel much like the backpack will feel. A lot of pin pricks initially but it will pass over time." Kim held Alexis's left arm. "You're right-handed otherwise it would have gone on your right arm." Kim watched Alexis nod.

"Okay, here we go." Kim placed it on her arm and touched a series of panels that Alexis could barely see. The redhead immediately felt the pain of having it attached.

"What exactly is it doing?" Alexis kicked herself for not thinking of this beforehand. She really needed to think things through.

"It's sending thin tendrils, if you will, that travel through your skin and drill into the bones of your arm. This makes it impossible for it to be stolen off of you or for you to lose it by accident." Kim didn't think it was any big deal.

"Into my bones! …Does it come back off?" Or was she stuck with it forever?

"Remember I told you this was a lifetime commitment? Well, you're not just Alexis anymore; you're now a traveler, one who moves through time and space. A new Alexis," Kim reminded her.

"Time and space," Alexis told herself as she gritted her teeth over the pain. Then it hit her that she was going to have to do this again for the back piece. "Get it over with and do the back."

Kim smiled, more convinced than ever that she had chosen wisely.

Soon Alexis was groaning from the pain on her arm and on her back. "How long is this going to take?" She was dying; she was sure of it.

Kim grimaced. "I'm sorry but it takes about an hour." She looked apologetic and listened to Alexis groan some more.

"No pain, no gain huh?" Alexis said wryly.

"That's good! Who said that?" Kim liked it.

Alexis chuckled and took her mind off of the pain for a second. "20th century."

Now Kim was chuckling. "This is going to be fun. You'll learn about the 51st century and I'll learn about the 21st century and earlier."

" _Someone has come out of the house and is headed this way_ _,_ _"_ Jill announced.

Kim looked around and saw her. "It's the nurse." Kim lifted her arm and pressed a series of panels and vanished. "Put your top back on."

Alexis scrambled to put her top back on and wait for Susan.

"There you are." Susan walked up to her. "We're going to need another delivery of ice in 12 hours. We have to cool Kate off again. What we have will be melted by then."

Alexis gritted her teeth and tried to think. "I'll make a call," she got out.

"Are you all right?" Susan was a nurse and it looked like Alexis was in pain.

"I was just thinking of running for the house. …Diarrhea," Alexis lied and ground her teeth.

"I have something for that if you want it," Susan offered.

"Sure, just leave it on the kitchen counter. I'll be right there." Alexis watched as Susan hurried back to the house.

"I should go. We can get to that _cat suit_ of yours later." Alexis needed to keep up the pretense of her lie.

"I'll follow. Can't have you stripping naked out here. …Unless you're into that," Kim teased and started laughing at the look Alexis was giving her.

To get back inside the house meant using her invisibility. Kim watched her go into the downstairs bathroom and when she came out she moved the bottle Susan had left behind.

" _ **Smart girl**_ _ **,**_ _"_ Kim thought. She smiled as she followed her up the stairs and into her room where Alexis closed the door and locked it.

"How you doing?" Kim asked as she dropped her invisibility.

"You didn't say anything about it hurting." She would have liked to have been warned.

Kim rolled her eyes, looking very much like Beckett. "It'll only last about an hour and there are worse pains than this. Now strip and let's get you into this suit."

Alexis felt a little uncomfortable as she started taking off her clothes. Not that many people had seen her naked and she was a little self-conscious.

"Something wrong?" Kim questioned, observing the speed at which Alexis was removing her clothing.

"No. I mean, I'm… It's nothing." Alexis steeled her resolve and stripped faster until she was standing there totally naked.

"Now let's get you into this thing." Kim began pulling it apart a bit.

"It looks a little like a onsie." Alexis didn't think she was a fan of this thing. It had feet, legs, torso, and arms. The only thing left exposed that she could see was going to be her head.

"Panties?" Alexis inquired just as she started putting one leg through.

"Built-in; so is the bra. And it will adjust as you grow," Kim assures her.

"If I grow," Alexis muttered. She was still a little self-conscious about the size of her breasts.

Kim only smiled as she watched the other leg go in. "Trust me, you'll grow." She was convinced that she would be even bigger than she was and was a little envious. She watched as the young woman's arms went into the sleeves and then moved in to close up the back. It was 51st century technology so there were no zippers, buttons, or Velcro. It just sort of seamed itself together and would do the reverse when she took it off.

"Now after Jack is attached all you need to do is have him scan what you want to wear, and he'll transfer that to the suit. It only takes a second. How does it feel?" Kim knew what her own felt like.

Alexis was all set to complain. "Improving slowly. At first I was going to say it's tight and that I could barely breathe, however, it's getting better." Alexis was a little shocked. "Anything, huh?" Alexis considered some of those dresses that cost thousands of dollars that even her dad had trouble finding a reason to afford. Her lips curved in a smile.

"I think I can hear the gears in your brain turning already," Kim chuckled which had Alexis joining her.

Alexis took a deep breath since a sudden sharp pain in her back had her gritting her teeth a little harder. "Kim, why do I need a weapon? I have no intention of using it." Alexis couldn't think of a reason she would want to shoot anyone.

"Never say never. There may come a time when you'll be more than happy to have a weapon. Besides, who says you have to kill anyone or anything? Your shots don't have to be fatal."

"Like tranquilizer darts?" Alexis was thinking drugs.

"If you mean a dart filled with a chemical, no. Think of it as an electrical charge that overwhelms the nervous system of the person shot. It will render him unconscious. Though the larger he or it is, the more shots you may need. Which reminds me. One more item." Kim took out a small case and opened it to show her.

"A contact lens." That's what it looked like to her.

"Using Jack you can cycle through night vision, telescopic vision, infrared vision, or ultraviolet vision."

"No x-ray vision?" Alexis was teasing but it was lost on Kim.

"Sorry, no. You want to see what a male has you're just going to have to wait for him to take off his pants," Kim sniped.

"That's not…OH, very funny." Alexis caught Kim's tiniest of a smile.

"I thought so. Now which is your dominant eye? Left or right?" Kim queried since it mattered.

Alexis thought about it. "I don't actually know. Is it important?"

"If I place it in the wrong eye you'll lose all of your equilibrium. It will make you dizzy while wearing it as each eye fights to dominate. Jill?"

" _Alexis is left eye domina_ _n_ _t."_

Kim carefully inserted it into the proper eye. "You'll have to remove it after 24 hours until you get more used to wearing it. I can wear mine for weeks before I have to take it out."

Alexis walked over to a full length mirror, twisting and turning while gritting her teeth. "I look stupid!" Alexis was convinced she looked like crap.

Kim laughed. "Wait and see, you'll be amazed. For example." She pressed a series of panels.

Alexis watched what she was wearing change in a cascade-like affect. There was another followed by another. "Wait, what's that one?" Alexis had never seen anything like it. She looked amazing in it.

"Like it?" Kim twirled in place. "I saw it on one of the worlds one of my clones was on and I had Jill scan it for later. I kind of like it. It exposes a little more than I'm used to. Though maybe that's why I like it." Kim felt beautiful and sexy in this dress.

"If Kate wore that, Dad would have a heart attack." Alexis was sure of it. She also wished she could wear a dress like that. She didn't think she had the body for it, though.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis had chosen to lie down on her bed while Kim sat in one of her chairs.

"How do you feel?" Kim thought it had been an hour.

Alexis had to think about it and pay attention to her body. She had tried so hard to ignore all of the pin pricks. "Not too bad, actually. I don't feel anything anymore." Alexis sat up and moved her arms and legs. "Pretty good."

Hearing that, Kim got up and moved over to her. "Okay, let's wake Jack up. Press these panels in this order." She demonstrated and watched as Alexis copied each move.

Alexis instantly saw a 6-inch tall man pop up. He was dressed in what she thought was a tux, though it looked a little old school.

" _Scanning…scanning. Hello, Alexis Harper Castle. We are on Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy. 21st_ _c_ _entury. Kimberly…JILL!"_ Jack found her also.

Suddenly a 6-inch tall woman appeared over Kim's upper arm. _"Hi Jack_ _,_ _"_ Jill cooed.

"I might have known you two would know each other," Kim commented. She had gotten both of them from the same person, after all.

" _Transferring mission parameters to Jack_ _,_ _"_ Jill advised them.

" _Interesting. We are hunting down a series of clones. Have we not learned anything from the last clone war?"_ Jack was a little taken aback at the mission that he was now a part of.

"You're Jack?" Alexis asked and saw him twist to look at her.

" _Yes, Miss Alexis, it is a pleasure to meet you."_ Jack smiled at her. _"I_ _a_ _m attached to a lovely young woman. This should prove to be interesting. …I promise to close my eyes when you undress."_

Alexis laughed lightly. "Scan her, Jack. Let's settle any physical problems first," Kim told him.

" _Scanning… Save for presently_ _being_ _hungry, she is in good physical condition. If we are going to be doing much physical activity while hunting for clones I would suggest more exercising. Build up her muscles and improve her stamina. However, she is in good shape. We may begin_ _,_ _"_ Jack responded.

"I **am** a little hungry," Alexis admitted.

"We need to get you used to using Jack and everything else you have. Jill, send coordinates to Jack for my home. It's time we got her training started," Kim said.

"What about Dad and Kate? R-I-G-H-T – time and space." Alexis shook her head. "I may be gone for weeks or months but can be back a second after I left." She knew she was going to have to get used to that.

"I'll warn you, your first time doing this is going to be… Well I threw up and lapsed into unconsciousness the first time. It wasn't pretty. You get used to it the more you use it," Kim shared even though it was embarrassing.

"OH, SWELL." Alexis rolled her eyes, not realizing that she'd learned it from Kate.

"I'll be there to catch you and take care of you," Kim reassured her. "Show her what panels to press and in what order, Jack. See you on the other side." Kim raised her arm, pressed a series of panels, and vanished in a bright flash of light.

Amazingly Alexis found that the light didn't affect her that much this time. In fact it was mostly in just one eye. "Jack?" Alexis lifted her arm and saw a series of panels light up.

"It's like playing Simon! I can do this." Alexis pressed the same panels in the same order.

The next thing she knew she was on her knees throwing up on what looked like concrete. She felt like crap. Kim was right there cleaning up the mess, then helping Alexis to sit up and just sit there for now. "It gets better, I promise." She handed a towel to Alexis who took it and wiped her face.

Alexis looked askance at the towel. It was soft and moist, yet not wet. "51st century?" She held it up as Kim nodded. Okay, so some things **were** better in the 51st century.

"Feeling better? Ready for a tour? It's not much but it's mine." Kim stood up and offered a hand to Alexis.

Alexis was shown the pool, seating area, living room pod, and kitchen pod. "What's that?" Alexis pointed to the sky.

"That's the gas giant this little moon circles. If you think that's amazing, just wait until we're on the other side and can see this system's sun." Kim was smiling broadly. "This small moon orbits one of the gas giants that's in this system. I found it and bought it. It's so tiny and has very few natural resources so no company wanted it. It wasn't worth it to them. It's about half the size of your natural satellite for Earth."

"A moon…out in space." Alexis started smiling. "Have you got a space ship?" Suddenly she really wanted to be out in space.

"Sorry, no. With the Vortex Manipulator I have no need of one. Besides, space ships are kind of slow. Really slow." She could be on the other side of the universe in either the same time or any other. Why travel by space ship?

Alexis lifted her arm. "Right." This really was going to take some getting used to. Suddenly a thought hit her and she immediately wanted to go back.

"You said you found who shot Kate. We need to go back so I can call Espo and Ryan. Have them go get him and interrogate him. Find out why he shot Kate." Alexis lifted her arm but didn't know what panels to press.

"And you can – **after** you finish your training. Remember, you may spend weeks or even months here, but you can go back to a second after you left," Kim reminded her. She wasn't upset that Alexis hadn't caught on just yet. After all it was a difficult concept to wrap your mind around.

Alexis started chuckling. "I'm going to have to get used to that. Sorry." She resolved not to make that mistake again.

"You'll adapt. Shall we get started? Maybe after we have something to eat and drink."

"Where do I sleep?" Alexis had seen only one bed.

Kim shrugged. "With me. There's only the one bed but it's a big one. You can have half of it. You'll be perfectly safe. I prefer men, not that I haven't tried a woman. It just wasn't for me."

"I've never thought of being with a woman. Not really interested in them that way," Alexis agreed.

"Then we're going to get along perfectly." Kim was satisfied.

They were eating what Kim put together. "You own all of this. Is there any life on this planet…moon?"

"Just some small wildlife. I haven't seen anything to worry about yet. None of it will bother you. Though I have to admit that I haven't spent much time in the ocean. There may be something there to worry about." Kim didn't have a boat and had no need of one.

"Are we far from Earth? In space and time?" Alexis queried.

"We are nowhere even close to Earth and this is the 51st century." Kim watched her eat her food. They would start her training after eating.

They were both going to learn a lot.


	13. Chapter 13

**One**

 **Chapter 13**

"How do you feel now?" Kim asked Alexis after her tenth jump. Granted she hadn't jumped very far but she'd also jumped back and forward in time a little. Actually she'd never left the moon. Just moved around the house.

"Much better." Alexis still wasn't a hundred percent onboard with it but she wasn't losing her lunch either. "What's next?"

"We don't have too many trees so we're going to have to go somewhere else. That little device at your hip shoots a line up. It can be used to strike a branch or some other object and lift you up to just below the location. Then you can reverse and lower yourself down."

"You mean like Batman? That's so cool!" Alexis placed it in her hand and looked it over. It was kind of small and didn't look anything like the item Batman used in the movies.

"Coordinate, Jack," Kim said to see if he has received them from Jill.

Jack responded almost instantly. _"Program complete."_

"Let's get started. After we finish this we can just relax in the pool." Kim was offering a moment for Alexis to relax. She was worried she was pushing her too much.

A moment later they both arrived in an equal flash of light. "They look like redwoods." Alexis tilted her head to look way up. "Up there?" It looked really high to her.

"Afraid of heights?" Kim inquired.

"No, just seems kind of high. This thing can actually get us all the way up there?" Alexis wasn't convinced.

"Easily, but let's start with something less tall. How about this tree." Kim indicated a younger, smaller tree. "There's a large enough branch for you to stand on and there's a branch a little smaller just above it."

They were both soon standing under it. Kim pulled out her device and pointed. "You want to hit the branch above where you want to go. Use your contact lens that's connected to Jack to pick the space you want to hit." Kim demonstrated.

Alexis was expecting to hear a gunshot or something, but she heard almost nothing. She was also expecting to see a stainless steel cable or something shoot out. However, it looked a lot more like a fishing line to her. Just that it didn't look very lax, no bending.

"Now you grip it tightly, make sure the strap is secured around your wrist, and press." Kim pressed the panel and Alexis was amazed at just how fast Kim went up. It felt like just a moment and she was standing on the branch.

"You're next. Just make sure the device is in your hand properly, aim, and fire." Kim tried to be encouraging.

Alexis looked at the device. "Just aim, fire, and press," she told herself. "AAHHH!" Alexis screamed all the way up; she felt Kim grab her and hold her in place. "I made it!" Alexis looked around and then looked down. "It's like a zip line, only straight up. Can it do a zip line?" That would be so cool!

Kim simply smiled, looked across, and picked a landing location with the proper branch above it. As Alexis watched, Kim shot the main trunk of the tree they were in and then a line far across to another tree. "Like this?" Kim asked and across she silently went. She yelled over to the younger woman. "You're next. Jack knows what to do. Just ask him how to work it."

" _Do y_ _ou want to do one better?"_ Jack inquired.

"What have you got in mind?" Alexis was starting to understand how Jack thought.

" _You see the tree Kim is in_ _?_ _Now look to the right a few trees and look up a little."_

"But a zip line only goes down from where you started." It used gravity to get from one side to the other.

" _Not this one. This is the 51st_ _c_ _entury. We can go up. You went up to get here_ _,_ _"_ Jack reminded her.

Alexis tossed her head. "So we did. Okay, that branch above the big one." Alexis aimed, fired, and shot a line into the trunk of the tree she was in. "WOO HOO!" Now this was more like what she was used to. Except for the going up part.

"Very nice, Alexis, you're learning," Kim called out and was actually impressed. "Now to get down. You saw how we get up and got across. Just apply both and get down." She demonstrated and was soon standing on the ground.

"Use Jack, that's why you have him," Kim yelled up and across.

Kim watched Alexis slide down the line and land on her feet. Soon Kim was standing next to her. "I see Jack showed you the brake." Alexis had landed softly.

"Yeah, no broken legs." Alexis raised her arms in celebration.

"I've got moving around using the Vortex Manipulator, adjusting the way I look, and I've done ZIP LINE! …What's left?" It had been a bit of a whirlwind.

"Weapon training, including hand-held." Kim took out her hand-held weapon.

"So that's what that is." Alexis had been silently guessing after she had seen it. "Please tell me it shoots non-lethal." She still didn't want to shoot anyone. "And just so you know Dad took me to a firing range so I do know how to shoot properly." They had been just paper targets, though.

"Hm." Kim was impressed. Maybe teaching her to shoot was going to be easier than she thought. "Okay, I've been pushing you, so how about a little down time?" Kim asked as she lifted her arm and was gone in a flash.

"Relax in a pool. Home, Jack," Alexis said.

" _Program complete_ _,_ _"_ Jack informed her and in an instant they were both next to Kim.

Kim smiled at her protégé."Go strip and hit the pool. I'll get the wine and snacks."

"I don't have a swim suit." Wearing her cat suit to swim in was out.

"Neither do I," Kim responded. "Don't worry, I'm not that interested in you. Now go strip and let's unwind. We'll go in search of one of my clones next."

"Not before another quick trip home. I…I just want to check in and see how things are going." What Alexis hadn't yet decided was just when she was going to arrive. If she waited too long, they would question were she had been. If she showed up too soon, she wouldn't learn anything new.

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Rick was still wide awake and watching Kate sleep when Lanie and Susan came back. "Castle, the ice has arrived; we need to start unloading it and getting Kate ready," Lanie said which told him he needed to let go and get up.

"I can help, I can carry her to the tub." Rick didn't want to leave. Now that he was in he was never leaving.

"Go show them were to take the ice, Castle," Lanie directed.

Rick wasn't leaving. "Alexis can handle that."

"She's not around. I need you to get up and go get the ice. …NOW, Castle. We have a tight time table." Lanie held out her hand and twisted her wrist showing that she would hurt him if he didn't.

"I'm going, I'm going." Rick let go of Kate and rolled out of bed. However, he lingered as Lanie and Susan started to unwrap her.

Lanie threw a pillow at him. "Move it, Castle."

"Your bedside manner needs work," Rick complained but began walking, albeit slowly.

"All my patients are dead. Best you remember that, writer-boy. Now go get that ice." Lanie launched another pillow.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Rick was directing the men who were unloading the ice and indicating where they were to take it. "Just where is Alexis? And where's Kim?" While he was sure Alexis could take care of herself he really wanted to know where Kim was. If she wasn't Kate, and clearly she wasn't, just who was she?

"Mother! Have you seen Kim?" He spotted her headed for the kitchen, likely to rescue a bottle of wine.

"Kim, Kate, one of them is upstairs with Lanie and that nurse, what's her name?" Martha wasn't concerned.

"Have you seen Alexis?" Had she seen anyone?

"Leave the girl alone, Richard. She's had to handle everything while you stayed in bed for the last few months. Let her relax for a change. You've worn that poor girl into a frazzle with your behavior. It's no wonder she's mad at you." Martha still wasn't happy with him, either.

Their exchange left Rick standing there groaning. He had really screwed up after finding out Kate was dead. Now she wasn't but if he wasn't careful she might be again. Someone had shot her and then someone had abducted her. Even worse they had addicted her to heroin. "I'm trying," he muttered.

The truck drove away as Rick closed and locked the door. Then he went into his study and opened his safe. From it he retrieved the only weapon that was in the house along with the two spare clips for it. He had learned to shoot with this weapon. Derek Storm had needed to learn to shoot so he had learned how to shoot. He'd gotten pretty good with it even if he did have to say so himself.

Sticking it in his pants behind his back and the spare clips into his pocket, he went upstairs to help Lanie and ask a couple of questions.

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Alexis was lounging in the sunken area just inside the pool. It was filled with soft cushions and pillows. She even had the fire pit burning. She could really learn to like this as she popped a cracker with a touch of cheese on in into her mouth.

She could hear Kim swimming until the sound stopped. "Can you hand me that glass of wine?" The voice was right behind her. Alexis leaned in to pick up the glass and turned to hand it to her. She actually shrank down a little as she did so that Kim couldn't see everything since she was naked.

"You don't look very relaxed," Kim commented, taking the glass. She took a shot at what was bothering her. "I really have no interest in having sex with you."

"I know. I mean, I know but…" Alexis wasn't willing to put a voice to it.

Kim guessed since it wasn't sex. "Body issues?"

"I guess." Alexis didn't sound convinced and she heard Kim sigh.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're not a virgin. …I'm right, aren't I?" Kim waited and watched until Alexis gave in and nodded.

"And did the guy or guys you've had sex with complain about what they saw?"

Alexis shrugged. "It was dark." She'd insisted on doing it in the dark.

"Oh, you've got it bad," Kim commented and started dreaming up plans on how to help her. "We'll work on that, but for now, just relax. We'll be leaving soon. But first we're going to make a stop. You'll love it." Kim hoped she would anyway.

: {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} :

Alexis tried not to watch while they both got into their catsuits in the same bedroom. Kim was taller, just like Kate was, and she obviously had a mature body. Alexis, on the other hand, still saw herself as a kid.

"Choose something nice to wear," Kim told her and Alexis watched her change clothes. Kim was wearing slacks, a simple top, and boots.

Alexis thought about it and talked with Jack about what was available. Turned out her options were limited. "We're going to go shopping, too. We need to update your wardrobe." Kim was shaking her head. She addressed Alexis's AI unit. "You know where Victoria's is, Jack? If not, Jill will send it to you."

" _Program complete_ _,_ _"_ Jack replied.

Satisfied, Kim touched a short series of panels and vanished in a flash of light. Alexis followed a moment later. "This way," Kim called, making sure Alexis was right behind her.

They turned a corner. " **WOW!** "Alexis's mouth fell open and her eyes were open wide.

"This is the **SUPER MALL** on Rada. If it exists, this place has it. We're going to walk through a couple of stores and let Jack and Jill scan everything they offer. Then we're going someplace I know." Kim began walking.

Alexis was watching everywhere and almost crashed into someone. "Sorry." Alexis hurried to catch up to Kim.

It only took about an hour and Alexis was amazed at what each store had for sale. "Some of this stuff is weird." Alexis fingered something that looked gross to her.

"Ignore it. Here today, gone tomorrow. We want that area." Kim waved her hand to the right and headed in that direction.

"A hair salon?" Alexis saw a lot of women having their hair worked on. Others were having their nails and toenails being manicured and pedicured.

Alexis soon found herself sitting next to Kim. Alexis was watching the other women and not Kim. Then suddenly someone was working on her hair. "Relax, you're going to love it." Kim promised her.

It took close to an hour and then she was spun to face the mirror. "OH MY GOD!"

Alexis ran her hand through her hair. It was so much shorter than it had been and it was red. Not just any red, it was glow in the dark red. ALL OF IT!

Alexis was still twisting her head to look it all over when Kim showed up. "What did you do?" Alexis demanded. She didn't mean just what she had done to her, but what she had done to herself, too.

"Like it?" Kim ran her fingers through her hair. She still had short brown hair the same color as Kate, but now she had these glowing gold strands in her hair. "I love yours. You look grown up now."

Kim leaned down close to her ear. "You're a time and space traveler; you need to grow up and look the part. It you don't like it, it'll fade over time and you can change it to something else."

Her childhood orange hair was gone. Alexis had to admit that the brilliant red hair made her look older. "You're going to have men stumbling all over themselves," Kim whispered to her again.

"Let's go; we have someplace to be." It was time to find her next clone.

Alexis couldn't hide her hair and was doing her best to try and not react to all the looks she was getting. Well, her and Kim. She watched a guy who was cute stumble over his feet and tried to cover up his goof.

"Told you so," Kim whispered since she had seen that and other goofs. Alexis began smiling and started to walk with more purpose.

"We'll use here. Next target, Jill." They both heard Jack and Jill respond.

" _Program complete."_

In almost simultaneous brilliant flashes they were both gone.

When they arrived they looked around. "Forest. …Invisibility and pick a tree," Kim said.

Both of them disappeared, each choosing a tree and ascending. "I think I see a road that leads to a clearing," Alexis called out.

"Lead the way." Everyone else may not see anything or hear anything, however, they saw each other thanks to their contact lenses.

It only took a couple of zip lines to reach what was clearly a road. "That way I think." Alexis took off with Kim right behind her.

Kim landed on the large branch right next to Alexis. "What in the world are those?" Kim had never seen anything like them.

"Dinosaurs, I think. I never really got into dinosaurs but what little I know those big guys are plant eaters, so harmless. Unless, of course, they step on you. They each weigh tons, several tons."

"Dinosaurs," Kim commented. "Where are we, Jill?"

"Earth, I'm guessing," Alexis chimed in. "Several million years before I was born."

" _Negative_ _,"_ Jill countered. _"_ _This is Siluria in the 23rd_ _c_ _entury."_

"Silurians…interesting." Kim had heard of them. "Silurians are essentially intelligent lizards. It's possible that we will meet them here. Be warned – they're not big fans of humans. Might be best if we avoided them," Kim said since Alexis was so unwilling to use her weapon.

"Works for me. Looks like the dirt road goes that way." Alexis pointed in the direction the road led since there were two lines of dirt. "I think we can use the tree line to follow it. Provided what we want isn't the other direction."

Kim lifted her arm and pressed a series of panels. "No human DNA in range." Kim nodded. "Good a direction as any."

"Are they all like this? Not knowing where your clone is located," Alexis questioned.

"Remember they were left here as a baby. People move."

"Good point," Alexis agreed while pointing, firing and zip lining over a number of trees with Kim right behind her.

"HOLY…" Alexis had come to a stop and Kim landed almost next to her.

"Interesting." Kim's response to what they both saw was a little less intense.

Each watched and said nothing. Kim lifted her arm and pressed a number of panels. "They appear to be lizard-based. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say from the dinosaurs as you call them that we saw earlier."

"Dinosaurs turn into that?" It was hard for Alexis to believe her eyes.

Alexis asked a couple of questions since one looked to be difficult to do. "How do we get in? Do we need to get in?"

"We wait and watch, wait and watch," Kim responded, knowing that they needed information. Alexis sat down with her legs over the side while Kim chose to just stand there.

"Jill, are we within range of all of the camp?" Did they need to move or was there something underground?

" _Negative, we are not within range of the far one third."_

What Kim would like to do now that she had Alexis to help her was move to the far side. But that meant leaving Alexis alone and she didn't think either of them were ready for that yet.

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"Okay Castle, you can come back in. As soon as she's out of the tub and wrapped up again, I'm going to bed. We need to start our cycle of who's up and who isn't." Lanie found him standing just outside of the bedroom door. She'd thrown him out while they stripped Kate and put her in the tub filled with ice. He didn't need to be seeing what they saw. He didn't need that memory.

Rick wasted no time in brushing past Lanie. He headed straight for the bathroom, dropping to his knees and watching Kate. At least she was awake and shivering from the cold.

"How do you feel?" What he really wanted to know was how badly did she need another fix?

"SHIT! If it doesn't hurt it's frozen." Kate lifted an arm out of the ice and placed it on Rick's hand that was on the edge of the tub.

"What do you remember? The shooting, the guy who held you, who found you?" Rick wanted a few answers. Almost immediately he regretted his question when Kate began to cry. As bad as she looked, she looked even worse while crying and it was breaking his heart.

"Everything." Kate meant it all, absolutely everything.


	14. Chapter 14

**One**

 **Chapter 14**

Rick couldn't stop himself and truth be told, he didn't want anyone to stop him. He leaned in and reached across to cup Kate's face in his hands. He tried to pour his heart out in an effort to help her. "Please don't cry. It's all over now. You're safe here."

"Everything," Kate said yet again.

He used his thumbs to brush away some of her tears. "You remember the shooting?" Rick questioned; she nodded. "Do you remember what I told you?" Had she heard that he loved her?

Kate shook her head. "Don't, Castle." She wasn't worth anyone loving her. She was a mess.

Rick used his thumbs again to brush away some of her tears. "It's too late for that, Kate. You can't stop me now. I AM going to help you and I AM going to love you. My heart knows what it wants."

Ignoring the cold water, he leaned close enough to bush his lips across hers. This time he didn't fail notice that she chased his lips for a moment after he stopped. He took his hands away and carded his fingers gently through her hair. "What do you remember while you were held?" Just how bad was it and what could he do to fix it?

Kate's tears came back with a vengeance. "Everything. He…he gave me shots. At first he said they were antibiotics for my chest." She moved her hand under the ice to touch her gunshot wound. "But it always hurt, even after the first few shots. Then I begged him for the shots. That was when he made me pay for the shots. He made me…he made me… God, Castle!" Kate couldn't stop from remembering or from the crying turn into body shaking sobs.

Rick went back to holding her face. "I don't care what he had you do. It doesn't change what I feel or how much I care." He kissed her forehead and brushed some of her tears away.

"He made me…made me suck his cock." Kate looked at Castle, pleading for him to take the memory away. "I can still taste his…" Rick didn't want to hear that part and didn't want her to remember or dwell on it so he leaned down and kissed her and kept kissing her.

"Don't think about it, Kate. We're going to make new memories to cover over the old ones. Good memories, just us." Rick so wanted a future and good memories with her when he was old and gray.

"Promise?" Kate wanted something she could hang onto. She loved him and if she couldn't get rid of him…

"Castle." Kate was ready but was interrupted when Rick kissed her again.

"You remembered when I told you that I loved you, so maybe you'll remember this time, too. I love you, Kate, more than I've ever loved anyone. Well maybe save for Alexis…maybe." He got her to laugh at him and then became quite worried when her laughing turned into a severe coughing episode.

"Lanie…LANIE!" Her coughing wasn't stopping.

Lanie pushed Castle out of the way and didn't care that it actually rolled him on the bathroom floor. "Bring the temperature probe!" Lanie called out. She took it from Susan to determine the temperature of the tub.

"Bring the injection; she's ready. It'll pass, Kate, just try and breathe." Lanie reached into the ice to take hold of her, doing her best to try and ignore the cold. "Just breathe, Kate." Lanie crooned as Susan arrived with the syringe and injected her. Kate calmed down and closed her eyes just like last time.

Lanie got up, pulling Castle away and back into the bedroom, leaving Susan to watch Kate. It was time for a serious talk.

"We're fighting a lot here, Castle. Her addiction is bad enough, but we think the infection in her gunshot wound has spread. We're pretty sure it's reached her lungs. What we don't know is if it's reached her heart." Lanie hated telling him but if he was going to help Kate fight to stay alive, he needed to know what he was up against. "She's vulnerable at the moment, so don't piss her off. She needs a reason to live. What's been done to her is affecting her." Lanie decided to risk it. She took a deep breath. "Kate's already asked me to kill her." Lanie was fast but not fast enough. Castle's legs gave out and he landed on the floor with a thud.

Lanie knelt down to his level. "She needs a reason to live, Rick. We need for her to fight. All the medicine in the world can't stop a person from just shutting down and dying if they want to."

Rick couldn't believe it. Kate had always been a fighter. Had it really been that bad? He grabbed Lanie's shoulders and unaware he was doing it, squeezed tightly. "What do you need? An x-ray machine? I'll get one. More monitoring equipment? I'll find whatever you need. Another nurse, I'll find one." He just needed to know what and he would move heaven and Earth to get it.

"An x-ray machine would be nice." Lanie wasn't going to pass up having one. "Susan and I are enough for now and we have what we need most."

"But you have a job, Lanie. You can't just stop working. …I'll pay you for your time." Anything it took, anything.

Lanie smiled at him. "I'm taking time off for a family emergency. I was only granted three weeks, so we'll see after that."

Rick pulled himself back together. If Kate needed a reason to live he would give her one; having him fall apart again wasn't going to help. He stood up and Lanie came with him.

"Kate needs a reason and I'll give her one. I may need to leave the house for a little while. I'm not sure where I'm going to get an x-ray machine, but I'll find one." He'd made his decision. "And there's something else I need to find."

"We'll be fine. You should thank Alexis; that young woman has done a lot." Lanie had always been impressed with her, even more so now.

"Yeah." Rick hung his head. He had forced a lot onto Alexis and he felt bad about that.

"If this is you feeling bad about how you acted, you deserve it. You put her through hell, Castle." Lanie hoped he knew what an ass he'd been – to his own daughter!

"I've already apologized. I'll do it again on my knees if I have to. Have you seen her?" He could do that first before leaving to find the other two things.

"Not since Susan found her out on the beach when she went to talk to her about getting the ice, but that was hours ago."

Rick set his resolve. "I'll find her, an x-ray machine, and a reason for Kate to fight to live. I can do that."

"Go get 'em, Castle. I'm going back to Kate. As soon as she out and wrapped up I'm going to bed so we can start taking turns." Lanie moved toward his bedroom.

Rick couldn't find Alexis and his mother hadn't seen her. Still he had errands to run and he didn't know how long it would take him or how far he needed to go. Possibly all the way back to New York.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Kate was still in the tub, turning blue again when Rick showed up at the bedroom door a few hours later. "Where do you want it?" He stepped aside and showed Lanie and Susan what he had.

Lanie pointed at it. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Meet the Medlink SR-130 portable x-ray machine. I couldn't find one to rent so I bought one and had it delivered. They said just roll it to where you want it, set it up, plug it in, and you're in business. The box contains fifty pieces of film for you to use to get the x-rays." Rick was proud of himself. In addition, the unit had only cost him just under $17,000, not including delivery. He had feared it would cost him an arm and a leg and that he would have to have it installed in his bedroom. He would have been willing do that but this had saved him the time and hassle.

"Kate's still in the tub; she's scheduled to come out in…" Lanie checked her watch. "Two hours. Then we'll wrap her back up. We might be able to get her to eat something after that."

"BROTH! I'm on it." Rick left them with the x-ray machine and headed for the kitchen. He hadn't started anything though he had bought what he would need while he was out.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Rick was watching his broth simmer. His mother showed up and sat down. "How you doing, my boy?"

He'd been holding it together until just now. "She's hurting, Mother. What the son of a bitch holding her had her do…" Rick shook his head. "She was forced to beg for her heroin and do something to get it." He wasn't going to explain to his mother that she had to give her captor a blow job to get her fix.

"She's here now, Richard. You need to be careful and don't screw this up. You need to learn from last time. You two really have to start talking instead of guessing what the other is thinking." Martha had said it all before but he just wouldn't hear her.

"I know, Mother. I, ah, got her something." He fished it out of his pocket and placed it on the counter in front of her.

"Is this…?" Martha had wanted them to talk but was this too much too soon? She picked up the little box and opened it. "Oh, my! It's beautiful, Richard. Katherine will love it. Provided she's ready for it. Are **you** ready for it?" These two simply knew how to dance.

 _ **Love springs eternal with this diamond lotus flower engagement ring, a Forevermark exclusive. This ring features a 0.44 carat G-H color, SI1 clarity round brilliant diamond set in prongs atop pavé diamonds set in a lotus flower form. Pavé diamonds continue on the polished band. Total pavé diamond weight 0.16cts. Center stone sold separately.**_

The center stone Rick chose was a 1.90 Carat VVS2 Excellent cut round diamond.

Martha was impressed. "Where did you find it?"

"London Jewelers in East Hampton. It was the best I could find on such short notice. Do you…do you think she will like it?" He was still very nervous about it. After all, they hadn't really even dated, at least not officially. Sure they had done a lot of things together but neither of them had called any of that a _date._

"She'll love it _if_ she's ready for it. That you love her isn't a secret, but does she love you? This could be simply an embarrassment for her. Say she says yes; is it her saying yes, or the drugs?" Martha wanted her son to be sure.

Rick stopped watching his broth simmer and looked at his mother. "She's hurting and Lanie says that she's already asked her to kill her. She needs to fight to live. To have a reason to live. Even if she doesn't now, that doesn't mean she can't later." Given the way they had treated each other, the Kate he knew would say no. But maybe this Kate was different.

"I'm asking her, Mother. I just need to figure out when." He knew she wanted it to be romantic, to be memorable. Which gave him an idea. After turning down the heat on the broth he went in search of his phone.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

The sixteen different bouquets were set to be delivered and fill the master bedroom with color and the scent of fresh flowers.

Kate was still in the tub, but would be out soon. He carefully carried her bowl of broth up the stairs just in time to find Susan finishing wrapping her up in the electric blankets.

When he got closer that was when he noticed. **SHE WAS BLUE!** At least her face was. She was clearly cold but how did she get that blue?

"She's all yours, Castle. Don't screw this up. I'm going to bed. If either of you need anything Susan will be here." Lanie patted his arm on the way out. She didn't question him about the broth. He had been told.

Rick mouthed the word _Blue?_ to Susan and set his bowl of broth down on the side table. If Kate was going to eat it she needed to be sitting up a little more, but at least she was awake. He put a number of pillows behind her and kissed her softly and quickly. "I made some broth. It's one of my own concoctions." He saw the face she was making.

"Lanie's orders were for it to not have any spices of any kind in it so it's perfectly safe." Rick sat down beside her and picked back up the bowl and spoon. He swirled it through the steaming liquid and lifted it up to Kate's lips. However, she kept her lips firmly closed. Rick, though, had been through this before with Alexis when she was little. "Oh the horror! The injustice that Kate Beckett, homicide detective, won't eat. It's bad for you," he teased and saw Kate smile, which was his opening. In went the spoon followed by several more until finally the broth was gone.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Rick commented with a wide smile.

"No," Kate agreed, giving him a small smile back. "Castle." She wanted to tell him that he shouldn't love her. Before all this, she was damaged. Now? Now she was broken. She was even beginning to feel the need for another shot. It wasn't just the bliss that it provided, it allowed her to forget and she had a lot she wanted to forget.

It was lost on her lips when Castle kissed her. Kate found herself once again chasing after his lips when he stopped kissing her. "Almost better than the broth," Rick murmured, making Kate smile a little wider.

"Castle." One more attempt was silenced when Rick placed a finger on her lips.

"If this is you trying to tell me not to love you, that you don't think you're worthy after what you've been through, you're wrong. Kate, in my eyes just the fact that you've lived through all that has happened shows me just how much strength you truly have. I told you once that you were extraordinary. Allow me the privilege of loving you. You don't have to love me back the same. You can grow into it."

Kate could feel her tears starting. What she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and kiss him, but her arms were trapped under the warm blankets. "What if I already do?" she asked him softly, shyly.

He was all set to argue when her words finally sunk in. "What?" Rick searched her face.

Kate's lower lip quivered from the fear of what it meant. She wasn't worth it and shouldn't feel what she did. "What if I already do…love you."

Rick's smile beamed as his heart soared. Enough that he reached out to hold her face in both his hands and kissed her. This time when he stopped and she chased after his lips, he kissed her again. "Hold that thought," Rick told her; she was all set to answer that she couldn't lose it if she tried. But before she could, he was up and running out of the room.

Susan took his place and worked to get her to lie down in the bed. "You two are cute together. I don't know many men that would stick around and help you through this." She meant opening his house and his heart to a woman in Kate's position.

"No, me neither." Kate still didn't think she deserved him but she couldn't stop her feelings for him any longer. She just wasn't sure they had much of a future.

"You're not going to give me an injection are you?" Kate could feel the need for one building quickly.

"No, but I do have something for you instead." Susan left her to mix the powder in water and feed her using the cup with a straw.

"That should help." Susan was just finishing when Rick came stumbling back into the bedroom a little out of breath. Susan retreated and gave him her space.

"I know you told me once that you wanted it to be the most thoughtful and beautiful moment in your life and hopefully you will think it is." Rick moved his hand out from behind his back to show her a little black box resting in his palm.

Kate stopped breathing when she saw it and as she watched, Rick got down on both knees next to the bed still holding the box.

"Katherine Houghton Beckett. If you would do me the honor of marrying me. I promise to be by your side and help you through all of this and anything else that comes in the future." He opened the box to show her what was inside.

All Kate saw was the ring and it looked huge to her. It was like nothing like she had ever seen before. It looked like a flower edged with diamonds that had one perfect round stone in the center. She could feel tears rolling down her face and her lips were quivering. This sometimes silly and thoughtful man wanted to marry her.

Kate didn't answer and they were interrupted when Martha showed up at the door. "You've got a delivery, Richard." In walked two men, each carrying a massive floral arrangement. It took a little time for the two of them to carry it all in but after they were done there were fourteen different types of huge floral arrangements scattered all over the room. Tables, chairs, even the floor.

Both of them could smell the flowers since the room was almost filled with them.

Susan was standing in the middle of the room surrounded by all of it. She was smiling broadly and was a little giddy. "Say yes, Kate, or I will." The R.N. saw that Rick was a keeper and if Kate didn't want him she could learn to love him.

"You don't have to say anything. We can wait until your hand is free so it can be on your finger." Rick placed the velvet box on the side table, still open. He leaned down to kiss her and felt her kissing him back and chase after his lips a little. "Go to sleep and get better." He stroked her hair and used a finger to wipe away some of her tears. "Sleep." He kissed her forehead and stood to leave.

Rick smiled at Susan on his way out and closed the door. He would be back, but he needed to make a call first.

Susan went over to Kate, making sure she was comfortable before taking her temperature. Satisfied with everything, she moved over to a chair filled with flowers and moved it to the floor.

Kate lay there staring at the ring. "Yes," she whispered.


	15. Chapter 15

**One**

 **Chapter 15**

Kim leaned down to tap Alexis and get her attention. "Something's happening."

Hearing that, Alexis looked around and saw what looked like three dune buggies leaving the compound. Each had a driver, a passenger in the front, and two in the back. Everyone except the driver looked to be armed. "A hunting party?" Alexis wondered aloud since they were armed and this place had dinosaurs. Did they hunt them for food?

"Possibly, but the question is hunting for what? Do you see the weapons? What do you notice?" Kim asked her since Kim knew the type and what they were used for.

Alexis tried to think. "Small, handheld. No rifles."

Her mentor gave her a clue. "Not enough firepower to kill one of those big guys and the weapons they have are short range."

Alexis watched the dune buggies go past, far below them. It made no sense. If she went hunting for dinosaurs she wouldn't do it close up. "There are small dinosaurs. Some about the size of a dog," she suggested. "Not much meat on them, though." Alexis kept trying to think.

Kim gave her another hint. "They're moving fast and they made the road."

"So they know where they're going and have done this numerous times. Often enough to keep the plants from regrowing, leaving a dirt trail behind." Alexis was still trying to think when a new noise sounded. "What's that?" Alexis saw it and because of some of the movies she'd watched, she had an idea.

"It's a cage," Kim confirmed, watching it travel away under them.

"A hunting party." Alexis agreed. "But hunting for what?"

"Let's find out." Kim was curious and it might give them a lead on her clone. She used her device and started zip lining to follow with Alexis right behind her.

Several trees later Alexis stopped next to Kim and pointed. Kim used her contact lens to zoom in. "They're on the run. They see them as a danger and are running away. Small, running on two legs, with small upper arms. I think they have a head full of teeth. About thirty I would say, with each weighing about 3 pounds maybe."

Alexis used her contact lens and saw the tail end of them. "Mini raptors, I think. Maybe babies. Dinosaurs aren't really my thing."

Kim let them go and started zip lining again until they reached another clearing that the road went out into. "Interesting." Kim saw what was in the clearing.

Alexis arrived and looked everything over. "Another camp?" But why all the weapons and why the cage?

"Look again."

Alexis zoomed in and saw humans everywhere. "They're humans. They're hunting humans." Alexis put 2 plus 2 together and watched as the lead four vehicles went storming into the camp. Alexis tried to picture both camps. "The lizards' camp – the Silurians' camp – looks newer, more modern, and well built. This looks like crap." To her it looked like a slum. They had found and used whatever they could to build it. "It doesn't even have a wall like their camp does."

"Just a theory, but this **is** Siluria and is their planet. The humans crashed here and are scavenging to survive. A colony ship expansion gone wrong. There were a lot of those early on." Kim's remarks were based on her memory of history classes.

"We'll go there." Kim pointed to a far end. "Keep the invisibility for now, though we may change later." It answered Alexis's next question.

Two quick flashes of light and they disappeared, only to show up on the very edge of town in another pair of flashes. "Deploy your weapon and be ready." Kim quickly got set to utilize her own. "Armor." Kim wanted to be ready.

They started walking and Kim at least was surprised at the emptiness of it all. "Where is everyone?" Alexis queried, causing Kim to smile. Alexis had noticed and was thinking. _**Good. That was very good,**_ Kim thought.

Kim pressed a series of panels. "Most of these building have people in them." She pressed another series. "They're mostly malnourished and dirty. …And infested with insects. A few are sick."

"They're suffering," Alexis murmured, following Kim deeper into the camp. It was difficult to figure out where they were going. The entire place felt like a maze. "This place isn't well thought out," Alexis commented, not the least impressed with the planning and kept pace with Kim.

Kim suddenly stopped. Both heard the engines of the vehicles firing up and getting louder. A dust cloud showed that they were leaving. "No weapons fire," Kim noted since she hadn't heard a thing.

"Were they delivering something?" Alexis inquired, hoping for a bright spot.

"They don't like humans, so I doubt it." Kim knew from history that they didn't get along. She pressed a series of panels. "This way." Kim was searching for answers since now she was curious. She came up to an edge of a building and stopped. Alexis stopped next to her.

It was there that they saw a lot of humans. None of them were armed. "They're wearing rags," Alexis remarked, wondering why these people were dressed like that.

Suddenly the group broke up and started to scatter. "Oh, crap." Where they were located was tight and Kim saw a problem. None of the buildings were over one story and she questioned the roof integrity of all of them.

"Jill, Jack, scan their clothing. We need to fit in." Kim made a choice. She touched a series of panels and her armor was gone along with her invisibility. She was dressed in rags similar to everyone else's.

Alexis was right behind her and they watched a number of people walking their way. "Let's move, I want more space." If they were going to have to be in a fight, she wanted room to move around.

Of course they were noticed but it was what two of them said that had both of them stopping in their tracks. "Mayor." They both nodded their heads and kept walking.

Kim kept walking until they were more alone again. Alexis thought she understood. "They looked right at you and called you mayor. You're the mayor here. Well, your clone is."

"SHIT!" Kim cursed softly. This complicated everything. Up until Kate, killing her clones had been simple. Kate was clearly special to a lot of people; now one of her clones was a mayor of a town.

The next trick was finding where she was. But they couldn't just ask. Building after building seemed like the most obvious choice. Fortunately several of the buildings advertised what they were while others were clearly places for people to stay.

It turned out to only take three buildings before they hit jackpot. "Ma'am? Aren't you in your office?" There was a young woman sitting at a desk for the building they entered. She looked really confused.

"I was," Kim responded, heading for the only other door. She tried to sound commanding. "I don't want to see anyone for any reason."

"Yes, ma'am," the assistant replied, unsurprised by the order. Actually she kind of expected it after what had just happened.

Kim marched right in and allowed Alexis to close the door. She watched herself spin with a drink in her hand and then watched her drop the glass in shock, allowing it to shatter after hitting the floor.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

"Where are you two going again?" Rick couldn't believe it. How had his daughter found out any information at all? Had he really been that out of it?

Esposito huffed out an annoyed breath, irritated to have to repeat himself. "We got a call from little Castle and we're checking it out."

"Alexis thinks she knows who shot Kate and gave you an address," Rick repeated. It never dawned on him that he was sounding stupid. It was just so hard to believe.

"Listen Castle, Kevin and I have arrived. I have to go. If I find out anything I'll be sure to call you." Espo hung up on him, leaving Rick sitting there, staring at his phone.

He was still staring at nothing when his mother showed up. "Have you seen Alexis?" He had a lot of questions for her.

"Not her, Kim, Kate, or anyone else. I've called for a car and I'm headed into town. Is there anything you need?" Martha might actually stop to get it for him.

"Answers," Rick replied distractedly. "Try not to abuse my credit card too much, Mother." He had been spending a lot of money lately. Granted he had it, but just how much more was this going to cost him?

"No promises," Martha said blithely and began to leave. But she turned and stopped. "What did she say?" She knew he'd intended to propose to Kate.

"Nothing, I didn't give her a chance to answer."

Yet again Martha wasn't happy with her son. "You two really need to talk, kiddo. I know that you're scared that you'll push her away. But how is she supposed to know what you mean if you don't talk to her? You write books, Richard; tell her how you feel and find out how she feels. Even if she says yes, you'll be divorced again if you two don't start talking. Drink something and go talk to her." Martha shook her head and moved toward the front door.

"If only it was that simple," Rick answered softly.

Martha had heard every word. "It is if you let it." The door snicked shut behind her.

Rick started thinking about looking for the bottle of scotch. Except what he really needed were answers and he wasn't going to find them there, not in a bottle. Everything seemed to revolve around Alexis so he went in search of her.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

"I'm a clone…of you." She couldn't believe it. She had been raised in this town and was doing her best to hold the place together.

"You were just a baby so all your memories are you. You just share DNA with Kim." Alexis feared what she was thinking. Alexis had a question. "Why were the lizards here?"

"Silurians," Kim added, thinking that might clear things up.

"It's complicated." She hated it but it was the best she could arrange. "We crashed here and scavenged everything we could from what was left. Except we soon found out that the locals were dangerous."

"Dinosaurs," Alexis supposed and the mayor nodded her head.

"The meat eaters are a little far and few between, thankfully. Most of them anyway, especially the big ones," she stated further.

"T-Rex," Alexis guessed and watched as she nodded again.

"However, the little ones are more prevalent and almost as dangerous. What we didn't have or had very little of, were weapons. We lost a lot of people to those creatures. We were easy prey. Then the Silurians showed up." She started to remember that day. "My predecessor at this job brokered a deal. They hated us but we had them outnumbered even if they did have all of the technology that we didn't."

"What deal?" Alexis inquired, noticing that she was doing all the talking, which was fine with her. It meant Kim wasn't killing her clone.

"They come here to take a few people for a work detail. In exchange they keep the dinosaurs away. Big ones, little ones; all of them. It's actually been quiet around here save for when they show up to take more people."

"Slave labor." Alexis said it with disgust and almost spat the words out. Alexis thought she had an answer. "Change the terms of the deal." Only to see the mayor shake her head.

"They have all the advantages. They have the transportation, the weapons, and the dinosaurs. **Everything** we do is by hand. We're lucky to have electricity. And even that is prone to failure that leaves us in the dark."

Alexis got up and took Kim with her to the far side of the room. Alexis began talking in a low voice. "If we left and came back with modern weapons or even weapons from the 21st century…" Kim shook her head.

"Who's going to train them in how to use them? You? Say we do. Do you want to start a war? Wars are a lot more ugly than you think."

"Earth has had two world wars and there's always a conflict somewhere. I'm well aware at what wars cost," Alexis retorted. "We're in the 23rd century. Is there anyone who can help them and not start a war?" She didn't know the future like Kim did since this was the past to her.

"Jack?" Alexis had him and maybe he knew something.

" _Oscorp exists in this_ _c_ _entury and they will ultimately become part of Choam_ _, t_ _he largest conglomerate in the 51st_ _c_ _entury. If this planet has what they want, they will send someone to survey and report back. If they find something they will send several ships to obtain it."_ Jack was thinking mines, but natural resources weren't all they were interested in.

"She's the mayor of this town and they're hurting. You can't just kill her and then leave. The Silurians may decide to end the deal and take everyone. Arming them is out, but what will this Oscorp do?" Alexis asked, looking at Kim.

Kim really did just want to kill her and leave. But she'd added Alexis for a reason. "You're going to be a thorn in my side, aren't you?" Kim glared at Alexis who just smiled back at her.

"You're teaching me, so I should teach **you**. If you just go around killing all of them, what will you turn yourself into? Cold, heartless, and unfeeling? Did you have someone before all this? Did you not have dreams of a future that didn't involve killing people?"

"Clones, not people." For Kim there was a monumental difference.

"Kate is a **person**." Alexis nodded at the mayor. "Nicole is a **person**. These people depend on her. She's important." Kim couldn't just kill her. "If you keep killing people that are this important, are you not going to keep creating moments in time that you can't reach anymore? Create moments in time that are set and can't be changed?" Alexis challenged, and then had a thought.

"You're from the 51st century. Can't we just go there and find out if Oscorp came to this planet? If we change the past will it not affect the future?" Alexis thought maybe she had something.

"You're too smart for your own good," Kim growled since killing clones was what she was here for. She sighed heavily and saw Alexis smiling at her. "Fine! We can go check the archives and look. But if they didn't, she dies." Kim pointed a finger at Alexis who just smiled even wider.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

They left Nicole in a somewhat confused state. To her credit she was in politics and thought she was actually pretty good at it. There had been a number of challenges since she was selected for the office and she had managed to solve most of them. So she took being told that she was a clone in stride. That didn't mean she didn't have a lot of questions because she did. But she was willing to bide her time and ask them later.

Kim and Alexis arrived in dual flashes of light. "Don't stray too far. This place is usually very busy," Kim warned her and headed off.

It was when they turned a corner that Alexis stopped in place and just looked in awe at everything. Kim, though, hadn't stopped and Alexis had to run to catch up. "This is Jaboo?" Alexis was amazed and still had her head on a swivel trying to take it all in.

"My home city before the clones. The headquarters for Choam which is where we're going to get answers," Kim confirmed.

"Have we got time to–" Alexis was interrupted by Kim.

"I'll show you around a little after we get an answer." Kim knew just what she was thinking and when she took a peek at Alexis, it had her smiling widely.

It looked like they were headed for a spire that was all glass. "You're going to need to stay in the lobby. You don't have the clearances to go where I need to go." Kim stopped at a seating area. "Wait here for a minute." She needed something first and walked off.

Left to herself, Alexis was looking around at everything. It all had a clean modern look. Sharp lines and a lot of white everywhere save for the chairs and sofas. The sun was up, however, it wasn't shining into the space all that brightly. Looking at all the people told her why Kim had asked for Jack to change her clothes. If she still looked like she was wearing rags, she was going to stand out like a sore thumb.

Kim found Alexis standing at the glass wall looking out. "Sorry it took so long," Kim apologized. "I got you something that you might need while we're here." She showed her a band that looked simple enough. Kim took Alexis's arm and placed it on her wrist. "This is your ID while you're here. You're still Alexis Harper Castle. Plus this is your bank account. I put a little money into it. You just swipe it across a reader to pay for something."

"Like a credit card?" Alexis queried. Kim shrugged; she had no frame of reference for what Alexis asked. They had long since fallen out of use.

"Remember, do **not** use Jack while we're here. There are only two of these and if you're not careful someone will see something and you'll find yourself being taken to have Jack removed from your arm. While you can purchase literally anything, that doesn't mean everyone is willing to pay for it," Kim warned her. "Now, then – Jack will always know where Jill's located. So if things get really bad, have Jack jump you to my home. If Jill can't find Jack, that's the first place I will look."

"Got it." Alexis didn't like the sound of it all, but maybe she was just being overly cautious.

"Good. There's a place to eat downstairs, just one floor down in case you get hungry. Try not to leave this building. It's protected and if anyone bothers you, you will find a security sentinel right next to you in seconds. Let him scan this and use my name." Alexis understood everything easily enough.

"I'll be back as fast as I can." Kim left her and made her way to a bank of doors that as Alexis observed, looked a lot like an elevator.

Alexis stayed where she was for a time and then decided to sit down and people watch. She lost track of time and was a little startled when someone wearing a uniform and obviously armed was standing next to her. "Do you require assistance?" He looked to be about her dad's age though he was a lot thinner.

"No, thanks. I'm just waiting for a friend."

"May I see your ID please?" Alexis raised her wrist and she watched him pass his hand across it. "Thank you, Miss Alexis Harper Castle." She didn't see a reader or anything. It was just his hand.

"I'm waiting for Kimberly MacKenzie." Alexis saw his face change from neutral to something more soft.

"Kim! If you need anything at all just ask the receptionist." He resolved to keep an eye on her and started to walk away.

"I'm told there is a place to eat downstairs." Alexis felt like a snack and something to drink.

"Of course, follow me." He led Alexis to the same bank of elevators. "It'll be good to have Kim back on the job. Her replacement…well let's just say he isn't well loved."

That struck Alexis as odd. "Kim gives the impression of being a little…" The young woman searched for the right word.

"Kim may have been strict and perhaps a little aloof, but she was fair and would go out of her way to solve the issue. She's very much missed around here." He stopped at the door. "Just pass your ID across the plate and select one floor down. The special for today isn't bad, just stay very far away from the soups." He smiled as Alexis walked inside and stayed until the door closed.

Alexis stepped out one floor down and looked around. "It's a giant cafeteria." She saw places to get food on the far side with seating between her and it. The place was very busy. It even felt like a cafeteria as she commenced walking. Everyone left her alone and tended to their own business.

She looked at what was available and had to admit that it reminded her a lot of a food court in a mall. Making a quick choice, she got in line. It was similar to what she was used to only no food was on display. It was all on a single video touch screen with several just like it next to her. "Teriyaki chicken rice bowl with vegetables and water. No gas," Alexis quickly added as she kept reading the video screen in front of her and pressed panels to place her order.

"OH, sorry." Alexis ran her wrist across the screen and waited. It only took a minute and she found herself turning around to find a place to sit. It never occurred to her as being odd that she was talking to an automated screen the entire time.


	16. Chapter 16

**One**

 **Chapter 16**

Castle had made his phone call and found out what he needed to know. Now he was working his way across the bed before turning Kate to face him and pulling her in tight. As he turned her sleeping form he saw the ring he'd gotten her still sitting on the side table. Then he noticed the clear tube leaving the blankets and going over the side of the bed. He tried to be very careful and not mess with it. He lay there looking at her face once again. Besides it being blue he thought he noticed a few subtle changes. They were small but he thought she was actually starting to look better.

He watched as Susan came by and checked on the urine bag. "She's starting to look better," Rick commented, "but why is she blue?" It wasn't a deep blue but it was definitely blue.

"It's a side affect of the drugs we're using. I hate to interrupt you but I'm going to go get the x-ray machine and take a couple of x-rays while she sleeps. We need to see what we are dealing with. I may need your help to at least move some of the flowers." Susan didn't have a lot of floor space to move the x-ray machine.

Rick reluctantly left Kate but told himself that he needed to know as well. It turned out that he would move one arrangement, allow the R.N. to move the x-ray machine and then put it back down. Repeat, followed by repeat, followed by repeat.

He watched her set up the x-ray machine and plug it in. Then he helped her turn Kate before Susan had both of them leave the room and wait a moment. Then they went back in and did it again.

Since they didn't have a lighted display unit, Susan simply held the film up against the window and allowed the sun to provide the light. Rick didn't like the face she was making. "What?" He had no idea what he was looking at.

Susan turned to look at him with a _'Please don't shoot me'_ look. She held up one of the x-rays. "These two spaces are her lungs and this one is her heart. This space here is the gunshot wound. Keep in mind that this area is infected."

Rick looked at it with new eyes and pointed at the x-ray. "This area has the same look as the gunshot wound."

"Yes, the infection has made it to this lung. If we can't get it under control we may have to take her to a hospital and have them remove it. She may lose a lung."

Rick was sure his heart went back into that same sub-sub basement it had been in earlier.

"The good news is that it doesn't look like it has made it to the other lung or her heart yet."

"But she looks better," Rick said, desperately trying to find a silver lining.

"I'm glad you think so, but we have a long way to go yet. The directions for what we're using say to keep doing what we are doing for another week. Then we can stop with the ice and just stick with keeping her warm." Susan saw a future, but was going to be a tough one for all of them.

"I saw she ate the broth. We'll need for you to do that again later. Maybe we can move to something more solid in a few days." Susan was hopeful. "When Lanie is back up we'll give her a sponge bath and wrap her back up again before putting her back in the tub. We're going to need more ice soon. Lots and lots of ice."

"I'll have them set up an automatic delivery." Rick left her to search for his phone and make another call.

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Esposito fished out both vests out of the trunk and handed one to Ryan. "What do you think we're going to find?" Ryan knew why they were there though he wasn't sure what they were going to find.

"Little Castle was insistent that we come here and to be careful." Espo wasn't going to pass up any lead on who shot Kate no matter where it came from.

"You know if we find someone we're going to have to involve Gates." Ryan wasn't willing to do what they did last time again. Once had been enough.

Espo stopped strapping his vest into place. "Let's see what we've got first." He was less willing to involve Gates but didn't want to isolate his friend.

Both of them pulled out their weapons as they went up the stairs and searched for anyone that might be waiting for them. Ryan motioned for the room number they had been given. Each took a side and Ryan nodded to Espo. Espo reached out and pounded on the door quickly before readying his weapon. "NYPD, open the door."

They listened for any noise at all that would tell them something. Hearing nothing Espo tried it again. "NYPD, open up." Still nothing. Espo nodded at Ryan who moved a little as Espo got ready to kick in the door. One swift kick and both of them rushed into the room. Espo took left while Ryan took right. Ryan saw something that was hard to believe. "Clear," Espo called out and turned back to his friend. "What the hell?"

Before them was a man who was secured to the wall with what looked like a net holding him tight. "What do we have here?" Espo started walking toward him only to have Ryan hold out a hand to stop him. He'd noticed a couple of things. First he pointed to the hole in the floor that Espo was about to step into. Then he pointed to the hand gun that was on the floor.

Ryan kept his weapon on the man immobilized against the wall while Espo picked up the weapon and sniffed it. "It's been fired recently." Espo kept it and started looking around for the bullet hole. Finding nothing, he put it back where he found it. Then he knelt down to the hole in the floor. "Looks like a hiding place. …Empty now." Then he lifted up a tiny remnant of burnt paper and showed it to Ryan.

He saw Ryan pointing. He turned to see a laptop. Espo picked up a pencil, pressed the power button, and waited. "We'll get tech to look it over. Now, who have we got here?" There was mostly just one thing left and that was the man pinned to the wall.

It was clear he was conscious and was watching everything. Ryan reached out to touch one of the wires and then touched one of the secure spots where there was a device that looked like a cone made of metal. "Seen anything like it?" Ryan hadn't.

Espo shook his head. "It looks like it hurts." The wires had dug into his flesh and there was dried blood on every wire. "Does it hurt?" Espo asked sarcastically him while smiling. If this jackass was the one that had shot Kate, he was more than happy to help him feel even more pain. Their suspect, however, remained silent. "Search the place, see if there's anything before we call Gates." Espo knew Ryan would call her if he didn't. But he wanted to know all he could before being forced to hand it all over.

They met back up in the living room with their friend. "Anything?" Espo queried.

Ryan shook his head. "Doesn't look like he has been here long. The place is still clean and there are no clothes."

"So he has a car around here somewhere. With a trunk full of clothes. We just need keys and a wallet," Espo growled. Both of them stared at him, wondering just how they were going to search him. The wires were tight not just for him but for them, too.

In the end Espo kept an eye on their friend while Ryan called Gates to get a team out here to get this man and take this place apart.

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Rick felt like a drink after getting the bad news and had just reached living room when his mother opened the front door, returning from her shopping trip. "Empty-handed, Mother?" He was surprised. His mother was an excellent shopper.

"It turns out I wasn't into shopping today." Too much was on her mind and retail therapy wasn't helping. "How are you doing?" Martha followed him toward the kitchen and watched him get a bottle of scotch down. She thought it might be a bit early for a drink but didn't stop him. Though she was happy to see that there was only one finger of it in the glass.

"Susan took an x-ray." Rick took sip. "It isn't good. If they can't stop the infection Kate may lose a lung."

"OH NO!" Martha hated the news and tried to think of something to say, anything. "People can live with just one lung, though." She had heard of it.

"But not a homicide detective chasing down criminals." He knew if she lost a lung her possibility of getting her job back would be nil.

"At least she'll be alive, Richard. That's a lot more than she was a few months ago."

He saw trouble ahead. "A hospital that told us she was dead. A mortuary that told us she was dead and buried her."

"So that's the reason for the weapon." Martha had noticed he had something on him.

Rick pulled his shirttail out to cover it up. "Someone wanted her dead, Mother. It takes a lot to get a hospital to lie, not to mention the mortuary."

"Do you think they know she's still alive?" Did her son need to arrange more security? Not just for Kate but for all of them?

"I don't know. I haven't had a chance to ask Lanie what she knows or call the guys to find out what they know." Rick said just as his phone rang. The Caller ID showed it was Espo. "Javi! Just the person I was thinking about." Talking about actually.

"You better sit down for this, Castle," Espo warned.

"Why?" What could Esposito possibly know?

Espo kept it short and to the point. "We found who shot Beckett. His DNA matches the DNA we found on the weapon that was used. Gates has reopened her shooting."

Rick's eyes went wide and Martha looked at him questioningly. "You found who shot Kate." He couldn't believe it.

"Really?" Martha was shocked and elated at the same time.

He fired off some questions. "How did you find him? Who is he? Where was he?"

"Alexis gave us a lead." Espo still couldn't believe it. How had she learned what none of them could?

"ALEXIS!" Stunned, Rick looked at his mother who looked almost as stunned. "Alexis told you? How did she know?"

"His name is Cole Maddox. But his name only goes back a few years. After that he doesn't exist. How we found him, you wouldn't believe. He was literally attached to a wall using a net that we had to cut away. Even more strange is how the net works." Tech was still working on it but had worked out that it could be tightened until it did severe damage.

Rick couldn't visualize it. "A net? Like a fishing net?"

"If it was made of metal, sure. But it's how it can be tightened that's unusual. Tech is thinking that someone shot it at him and then allowed it to tighten, pinning him to the wall. We're still working on just how long he'd been like that." Beyond him being dehydrated, they didn't know.

"I gotta go." Espo hung up hurriedly as he saw Gates walk off the elevator.

"Ryan, Esposito, my office. …NOW!" Gates had been given a tongue lashing from 1PP and she was going to share her suffering with others.

Rick put his phone back in his pocket. "How did Alexis find who shot Kate and where is she? And where is Kim?" He hadn't seen either of them in hours. Granted he had been with Kate ever since he had gained access to her, but he ignored that.

"She's a smart girl, Richard, and she has been busy while you stayed in bed." Martha couldn't help but add a little salt. Just talking about it reminded Rick what he had done. Or more like not done.

"Are you going back to New York, back to the precinct?" she inquired.

"No. I'm needed here. I'm not leaving until Kate can by walking." He was resolute. Kate was here, so was he. Maybe he could talk Kate into never leaving the house and just stay here forever.

Martha wanted to know what he was thinking. "So what's next?"

"If her shooter knew where she was, he wouldn't be there. But who had captured him and left him there?" Rick wondered who was on their side that they didn't know. "I think no one knows she's alive or where she is so she's safe for now." He needed a plan to keep it that way.

"For now Kate needs to keep eating, so more broth." Rick turned to start putting together what he needed.

"Let me know if you need anything." Martha saved a bottle of wine from gathering dust and took down a glass. If her son could drink scotch she could have a glass of wine.

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Alexis was back upstairs and sitting in the lounge area with her leftover water, trying to fight off taking a nap. Then a low beeping noise had her looking down where she saw a panel on Jack flashing softly. She looked around until she saw Kim step out of the elevator. She jumped out of her chair and rushed to meet her. "Well?" Alexis was out of reasons for her not to kill Nicole. Not that she really understood why her clones had to die. "What did you find?" She was dying to know.

But Kim just kept walking and then outside she said, "I'm starting to hate you," after she stopped and looked around for a place to use Jill to get back to Siluria.

"YES!" Alexis started dancing until she saw the look on Kim's face. "I mean I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah, you look sorry." Kim had made a deal and she would keep it but it didn't make her happy.

"Sorry about that. **NOT!** " Alexis went back to dancing with a huge grin on her face. She had saved Kate and now Nicole. She was two for two and batting a thousand. Then she noticed that Kim was walking away and hustled to catch up.

"What did you find out." Alexis was curious.

Kim had a very sour look on her face. "It seems that Oscorp did indeed establish several mines on that planet. It bought the rights from the Silurians back in the 23rd Century."

"Yes!" Alexis pumped her fist in victory yet again. She wondered what was next. "So now we tell Nicole?"

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Kim slowly simmered as they walked through the town with everyone greeting her as the mayor. Alexis couldn't resist needling her. "Don't want to be in politics?"

"NO!" Kim's blood pressure just kept rising.

The young lady out front saw them both. "Ma'am. Um…aren't you in your office?" How had she not seen her leave? And why was she wearing different clothes?

"You're back already?" Nicole was perplexed. They'd left not even an hour ago.

"We have good news." Alexis was all smiles while Kim wasn't.

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"So this Oscorp company is sending a ship to secure mining rights. What does that do for us? Sounds good for them and maybe the Silurians, but what about us?" Nicole was only interested in her town and her people.

"That's between you and the people that Oscorp sends. You can stay and possibly be employed by Oscorp after they set up their mine or mines. Oscorp will build a town to house all the miners. They're aware of the dinosaurs and will provide security. Likely a whole new electrically charged wall with gated exits. Maybe including guard towers."

"So we would be living in a prison." Nicole wasn't sure all that was necessary.

"You **do** live on a planet filled with dinosaurs," Alexis reminded her.

"That presently don't bother us," Nicole countered.

Kim raised an eyebrow. "Because of your deal to provide slave labor. Oscorp will not allow that after they get here."

"You don't really want your people being slaves, do you?" Had Alexis read her wrong?

"No, of course not. It just sounds a lot like either a prison or a military outpost." That was the part Nicole didn't like.

"You're a politician. Create a new deal with the Silurians after Oscorp gets here," Alexis suggested.

Kim offered an option. "Or leave. You did crash here, after all."

Unfortunately, Nicole didn't know where everyone would go if they did leave. This was home.

"The decision is yours. Oscorp will be here in about a month. Once they secure the rights things will progress quickly. You can expect an entire city to be built in about a year." Kim turned to leave.

"Talk to the people. Find out what they want. Good luck." Alexis gave her a small wave then hurried to catch up with Kim.

"Thank you!" Nicole called after them as they ignored the looks of the young lady sitting out front.

Alexis looked up at Kim while they walked. "Thank you."

"I thought this would be a challenge for you. Turns out it's a challenge for me." Kim couldn't believe it. Maybe Alexis was too damn smart.

"So where to next?" Alexis asked. They had three more clones to check out as far as Kim knew.

Kim sighed and thought about it. "I'll let you celebrate your win and I know just the place. You're going to love it." Kim started smiling since she was going to enjoy it also.

"Singing stones?" Alexis lit up at the thought of hearing them after Kim talked about them.

Kim smiled. "Even better." But she wasn't willing to expand on where they were going.

"Branton, please, Jill. 51st century."

" _Program complete. Transfer to Jack complete."_

Together they vanished in a brilliant flash of light.


	17. Chapter 17

**One**

 **Chapter 17**

 **This entire chapter is rated M for a reason. Reader discretion is strongly advised.**

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It is not required that you read this chapter. Skipping it will not affect your ability to follow the story to any great degree. What you miss will be explained if or when what happens in this chapter comes up in later chapters.

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"Where are we exactly?" As usual they jumped into a space that should be empty so that no one saw them.

"This is Branton. It's in the Andromeda Constellation. It is one of the _Blue Eiffel_ group I talked about earlier. They are called Andromedan or sometimes the Pleiadian Federation in their early years. Now come on!"

The second they exited a door and got outside Alexis got a good view of everything. "WOW!" Alexis looked up. Everything was modern and filled with glass and silver steel.

Then she looked down and was equally shocked. "They're blue." Alexis meant really blue. Everywhere she looked the people were blue in color. Not a deep navy blue but more of a soft blue with maybe just a hint of white.

"Yep." Kim smiled broadly since she knew something Alexis didn't. "For the record, this is where I got the drugs that you needed for Kate. These people are good at medicine amongst other things."

"These people are why Kate will live?" Alexis had a new appreciation for them.

"Follow me." Kim walked away with Alexis hustling a little to catch up. Alexis didn't ask any more questions since she was looking at everything including all of the blue people that were walking past them.

Then she saw someone who wasn't. "Human?" Alexis just sort of nodded her head.

"We may not be the dominant species on this planet but there are a few thousand of us here," Kim confirmed.

Then Alexis saw someone else. "Why is he white?" She nodded again as he was walking toward them.

"Besides that, what else is different about him?" Kim questioned which had Alexis looking closer without trying to stare.

"He's old. …Well older." She feared she had just insulted him.

"As they age they lose their blue coloration. It happens to males more than females, though you will see a few. Here we are." Kim opened the door and let Alexis go first.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" There was a woman that was mostly blue but had a little white to her.

"I've heard a few good things about this place and decided we should try it," Kim replied.

"A first for both of you. How exciting." She was happy to have new customers. "Let me check who's available."

"Someone who's willing to experiment a little for me but soft and gentle for her," Kim called after her and saw her start looking at a screen.

"Two things for you to remember. See those two pieces of paper next to her?" Kim lifted her chin in her direction. "One is a state cleanliness rating. If it isn't an A or is too old, don't enter. The other is the average approval rating that customers leave behind. You want a place that's above 95."

Alexis saw that this place had a 97.4 which she guessed was good. "So what is it they sell here?" Alexis didn't see much. The room was small and there were only two other doors. It was modern and nice looking and completely clean.

"Sex," Kim said just as the lady came walking back.

"WHAT!" Alexis felt her heart speed up as she watched the lady walk up to them. She wasn't serious, was she?

"I think Victor will be to your liking; he has a 96 approval rating." She handed Kim what to Alexis looked like a hotel key card to unlock the door.

"I chose Bradley for you, miss. I think you will like him. He has a 98 approval rating. He specializes in our new, slightly shy clients." She gave Alexis a similar card that Alexis took while not really thinking.

"Just step through one of the two doors, place your card in the slot, and enjoy. You will pay upon arrival with your male," She instructed. "Enjoy your time with us." She walked off, going back to her monitor.

Alexis glared at Kim. "SEX?!" Alexis wasn't sure she could go through with this. PAY someone for sex?

"These men are known in countless different systems. They're the very best as you're about to find out." Kim couldn't wait. It had been a long time and she had always wanted to try this with one of them.

"But I don't–" Alexis tried to get out of it but Kim interrupted her.

"It's just sex; they aren't going to ask you to marry them. You see that state medical post I pointed out? That doesn't just mean the men and women here are clean; they're also sterile. The women can't get pregnant and the men can't get you pregnant. It's why you need to look for it and make sure it's up to date. It's perfectly safe and you, my young friend, are far too stuffy. Relax, grow up a little and have some fun.

"If money is a problem, then no worries. You have enough to do this at least three more times." Kim smiled widely and used her elbow to poke Alexis. "I, for one, intend on enjoying myself. You can pick the next place after the next clone." Kim guided her over to one of the two doors.

"Now go and have some fun. You can thank me later." Kim opened the door and gently pushed Alexis in. "Insert your card." Kim closed the door and stood there a moment. She didn't know if Alexis had used the card or not so she stayed for a few minutes in case Alexis tried to chicken out. Finally sure that she'd used it, Kim opened the other door and stepped inside. Once there she inserted her card and she was off.

Alexis wasn't sure what to expect. It was about the size of a closet but she inserted her card. She would just tell this Bradley that she wasn't interested in having sex with him.

Suddenly she felt the entire room move. "It's an elevator." It felt familiar. It was just that after going down a little it suddenly went sideways and she stumbled up against the wall. It did that a few more times until it finally stopped and the door opened automatically.

"Welcome! Please step out and join me." Bradley was used to this. This one was obviously bashful like several before her.

Alexis stepped out all set to tell him she wasn't interested until she saw him. He was blue, bald, handsome, and wearing nothing but shorts. It showed off his toned body perfectly. She was guessing that he had used something to make his skin actually shine.

"Um, hi?" Alexis blushed bright red.

Bradley moved over to the bed and patted the space next to him. "I don't bite. If that's what you're interested in you need to find someone else." He didn't do that and the lady who sent her here knew that.

Alexis moved over and sat on the bed just a little farther away rather than right next to him. "I'm not sure–" Bradley broke in.

"I get a lot of first timers. I can assure you that I will tend to your every need. I will make it the most pleasurable experience that I possibly can. Do you know about the state sanctioning and the review number?" He decided to start there.

"It was explained to me, but I'm still not–" Alexis tried again to bow out of this gracefully, if that was even possible.

"You're not alone in what you think," Bradley told her. "I can assure you that after you leave here you will want to come back. I have been with several humans so I'm familiar with your needs." He shimmied across the bed to get closer, taking Alexis's hand and softly kissing it.

"Now for the business part. I know it spoils the mood but it **is** necessary." He saw the band on her arm and ran his hand across it. Suddenly a voice announced, _"Payment_ _confirmed_ _."_

Alexis opened her mouth to object only to have him place one of her fingers in his mouth and begin sucking. She felt his tongue swirl around it. Bradley pulled her hand closer to him causing Alexis to bend in toward him. He took his time and Alexis watched him get closer and closer until suddenly she felt his lips touch hers for a moment. That was followed by another and another. Soon Bradley felt her kissing him back so he placed his arms around her and pulled her in closer and kept kissing her. Alexis couldn't seem to stop him and knew she was kissing him back. She moved her hands to his shoulder and reached around his neck and started stroking her hands over his smooth shining skin.

Alexis felt him still kissing her when suddenly she felt his hands on her breasts. Her bare breasts. She couldn't remember when the top of her cat suit had come off, however, she liked his hands and what they were doing. She wasn't a virgin and the guys she had been with had all kissed her and played with her breasts a little before moving on. Bradley, she found, had stopped kissing her and was now sucking on her nipples.

After some time, Alexis tilted her head back and relished in the feeling of having his mouth on her breasts. It was a feeling no one had ever given her. A moan actually escaped her lips.

Bradley went back to kissing her while his hands tweaked her nipples and it had her moaning into the kiss.

The next thing Alexis knew was that he was working on removing the rest of her catsuit. She knew it was her last chance at getting him to stop. It was just that she was wet and horny by now and she trusted what Kim had told her.

Alexis found herself naked and lying on her stomach as Bradley worked on her legs one at a time. Then he was kissing and nipping her skin on his way up each leg and it had her wishing he would place those lips on her core. He palmed her ass cheeks and started kissing them.

Then she felt a thumb cross across her vaginal opening. She moaned, wishing for more. She instantly got her wish like he had read her mind. He spun her so that she was now on her back and his mouth started licking her outer lips. Alexis grabbed his head and held him in place. "OH GOD!"

Bradly stayed there and kept licking and licking until he stuck his tongue inside her. "OH GOD, YES!" Then he nipped her clit and Alexis yelled as an orgasm that suddenly hit her by surprise. None of the other guys had ever given her an orgasm while licking her core. She was loving it.

Suddenly she felt a finger enter her. "OH, YES!" It was precisely what she wanted next. The one finger was followed by another and he started stroking in and out while licking her outer and inner lips until he suddenly nipped her clit again.

" **OH GOD!** "Her second orgasm was even more intense than the first and far and away better than any lover she had ever had. She loved that he never stopped. His fingers kept stroking in and out while his lips kept working their magic.

This time Alexis felt her orgasm starting to build up. She grabbed his head with more force, guiding it where she wanted it. "Don't stop, please don't stop." Alexis had to let go of his head and started twisting in place. Trying to avoid his tongue and at the same time chase after it.

" **I** **'** **M GOING TO COME. I'M GOING TO COME!** " Suddenly he pushed a finger up her ass while he nipped her clit. Alexis screamed as she climaxed harder than she had ever in the past and literally sprayed all over his face. Bradley didn't bat an eye and just kept licking while swallowing everything Alexis gave him.

Alexis was lying on her back and was willing for her heart rate to calm down. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before from any of the other guys. He truly was amazing and she wasn't quite as mad at Kim as she had been.

She was still calming down a little and was all set to thank him when she opened her eyes and saw that he had left her and was standing next to a table taking his shorts off. Her heart rate instantly elevated to a new height. He was planning on fucking her, she just knew it. At first she wasn't sure she wanted him to. What he had done already was more than enough.

She didn't understand but he had reached for something that she couldn't see and his hands were working at where his cock was located. Then he turned around and Alexis sucked in a breath. " **OH-MY-GOD!** "

He wasn't just big he was huge. Like incredibly huge. He was clearly erect and he had to be at least 2 feet long, if not longer and she couldn't begin to guess how big around he was. He was impossibly huge. No man could possibly be that big. Then he walked to her, swung her legs around, and pointed that thing at her entrance.

"You're too big. You'll split me in two with that thing." Alexis was a little shocked that she had actually said what she was thinking.

"Just relax, I've done this with several humans." He pressed the head of his cock at her entrance and grabbed each of her legs and spread them wide.

"OH GOD!" Alexis was sure this was going to hurt. And yet there was something about this monster that she couldn't take her eyes off of.

"Relax your muscles. You're wet and ready, you just need to adapt to the size little by little." Bradley pushed a little. He was met with resistance. "Relax, it will hurt a lot less. Just relax, your pussy is **not** too small." He pushed gently again and watched what he was doing.

Alexis tilted her head down so she could see what he was doing. All she saw was this monstrous cock that had no business being that big pressing against her opening.

Bradley watched as part of the head of his cock made it inside her and heard her moan. He just wasn't sure if it was from pain, pleasure, or surprise. Humans were just so different.

Alexis saw it, too. _"Relax my muscles, relax my muscles_ _,_ _"_ she chanted silently but found it was harder to do than just saying it. Suddenly she felt her lips being spread wide and there was pain. She looked down again and was sure the head of his cock was now inside her.

Bradley saw his head slip inside her and kept on slowly pushing, bit by bit.

"OH MY GOD!" Alexis let her head fall to the bed as she felt more and more of this monster enter her. She lifted her head back up and was huffing and puffing to try and make sure she relaxed her muscles. Alexis watched as more and more of his cock disappeared inside her. It was impossible but he was actually inside her.

Bradley stopped and gave her a moment to adapt to his size before pushing slowly. He wasn't in very deep and decided he should stop and started to pull out slowly.

"OH MY GOD!" Alexis felt him starting to pull out until he stopped and then started pressing back in again. "OH GOD!" She could feel being spread further than she thought was even possible. Even more surprising was that the pain wasn't that bad anymore.

He started pulling back out a little faster and then pushed back in a little faster. "OH MY GOD!" Alexis grabbed the bed sheets and squeezed until her knuckles were white. He was fucking her with his cock that was far too big for her. "OH GOD! …FUCK ME!" Alexis was starting to adapt and wanted to feel him pushing in and out of her. To fuck her.

"YES, just like that." Alexis lifted her head and watched him pushing faster and faster into and out of her. She could almost see her pussy lips spreading and following his cock on each stroke out.

Bradley started to let himself enjoy fucking his client. She was white to his blue cock; she was tight and he loved seeing his cock going in and out of her pussy. Most of it was not inside her but it was enough.

" **I** **'** **M GOING TO COME!** " Alexis screamed. She felt him stop and could hear him grunt. She'd always thought that it was impossible to feel a guy's come inside her, but she could swear she could feel his.

Bradley felt himself come inside her and knew his enlarged balls were pumping out a massive amount of come. So much that after he pulled out he saw a lot of it leaking out of her.

"OH MY GOD!" Alexis exclaimed again and raised her head to see his enormous cock sticking straight up. The tip was covered in his white come. She loved the look of it in a way that she couldn't explain. His white come on his blue cock pulling out of her white pussy. The look of it was indescribable and she didn't try to.

She watched him back up a step and then he bent down and started licking his own come off his cock. "NO!" Alexis wanted to do that. She wanted to wrap her hands around that big blue monster.

She moved fast and felt pain between her legs. Alexis hung her legs over the side of the bed and reached for his cock. "Let me." She really wanted to get her hands on this monster.

Alexis slowly stroked her hands down his cock. She couldn't even wrap her hand all the way around it. It took her two hands to stroke it properly and not just because of its length.

It was blue with her white hands and his white come on the tip. She could also feel his come leaking out of her pussy onto the bed. "It's gorgeous." She loved its size and leaned across to start licking the sides as she worked her way to the head and worked at licking his cock clean.

Now it was Bradley who held her head in place and started groaning. Very few of his clients were willing to give him a blowjob. If he didn't climax while fucking them he would finish himself off by licking the head of his cock.

Alexis heard him urge her on. "OH YES, JUST LIKE THAT!" She pulled him in closer, placing his cock between her small breasts and rubbing it in place, up and down. Alexis leaned her head down and tried to take his cock head into her mouth but found she couldn't open her mouth wide enough. His cock was just so big. She kept stroking it and alternated between licking just the head and up and down the shaft.

"OH YES, JUST LIKE THAT. THAT'S THE SPOT," Bradley groaned which had Alexis licking faster and faster and stroking her hands up and down his shaft faster and faster. " **AHHH!** " Bradley moaned and Alexis feel his come hit her in the face until her mouth could cover the opening and take his come in her mouth. There was so much of it and she wasn't willing to swallow it all just yet so it started leaking down the side of her face and dripping onto the floor.

"Thank you, that was...extraordinary!" If it was possible he would give her a rating and pray that she came back again. He also liked seeing all of his come on her face.

"Your cock is amazing!" Alexis still had her hands wrapped around it and couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was so big that she was amazed that it was this big. She was never going to be able to take all of it inside her. It was too big for her.

Suddenly Alexis knew what she wanted. "Fuck me again?" Alexis looked up at him with a questioning look.

"That will require a second payment. …Sorry." It was a business and he had to be paid so he could pay his bills.

Alexis simply raised her hand and watched him pass his hand over her wristband. _"Payment confirmed_ _,_ _"_ an artificial voice said.

Alexis reluctantly let go of his cock. She got up on the bed and got on her hands and knees. "Fuck me." Alexis wanted it this way this time. She shook her ass and waited till she could feel his massive cock touching her core. This time she relaxed her muscles and felt him enter her slowly.

"OH GOD, YES…FUCK ME." Alexis felt herself pressing back against his cock each time he pressed into her. She had no idea how deep he was into her but she didn't care. That blue cock was fucking her.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis had seen him spray something onto her pussy after he had said he could see blood. Then he had helped her to get dressed back into her cat suit. He hadn't even said a word about it.

"Thank you." Alexis reached up to kiss him.

"You're welcome. Come back any time. Keep in mind the longer you stay away it will allow your pussy to tighten up. The more often I'm inside you the better it will get." It was something Bradley knew.

Alexis started blushing about what she had just done. "Perhaps." She bent down to give his still erect, huge cock a quick kiss and run her hand up and down it. She was still enthralled by its size. What it felt and looked like. She knew she was going to miss that cock.

Alexis moaned at the pain between her legs as she entered the elevator. She smiled at him before the doors closed. "Thank you for the rating," Bradley got out just as the door closed. Alexis was smiling widely and had never felt like this before. She'd given him a score of 100.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"There you are." Kim was sitting in the room they had entered to get access in the first place. Alexis carefully walked out and was sure she didn't want to walk far or for very long.

Kim didn't get up as Alexis approached her. "Did you have fun?" Kim smiled knowingly at her, very aware of just what had happened to her.

Alexis felt her blush rush from her neck and up her face. "It was nice." Alexis listened to Kim laugh.

Kim pressed her for an answer. "Not sorry I brought you here?"

"No." Alexis replied softly. "What now?" She wanted off this topic and to get moving. Just hopefully not far or very fast.

"I think a drink would be a good idea." Kim wanted something to help kill the pain between her legs. She got up slowly and started walking slowly with Alexis almost shuffling her feet next to her.

"I can barely walk," Kim announced; she was sure it was obvious.

It had Alexis giggling. "Me, too."

Kim found the first bar she could find, sat down slowly, and waited for the waitress since this place was old school. "So you were gone for a long time."

Alexis ducked her head. "Yeah. I, uh, may have paid him again." Alexis couldn't believe it herself.

It had Kim laughing. "You know there's a saying: **Once you've gone blue you never go back.** "

Kim was still chuckling when their waitress showed up and they ordered a hard drink to hopefully kill the pain.

"You know his size is artificial."

That had Alexis looking up at her, her blue eyes wide. "WHAT!" It looked real and felt real to her.

"Did you see him put on a ring around his member?" Kim watched her shake her head.

"I think I saw him do something. You mean that thing was fake?" Like a dildo or something?

"Oh no, it was very real. These people's entire society revolves around sex. They know a lot about bodies. They have used technology to enhance the male member. He takes this ring and places it either around his shaft or around everything. How big were his balls?"

"Kind of big actually." It was part of what entranced her so much. His cock was huge and his balls were just as big.

Kim looked a little envious. "He gave you the entire treatment. Lucky you. It really is all him, though. It's just that the ring artificially enhances his size. The bigger he already is means he gets even bigger after putting it on."

"So he isn't always that big?" Alexis was astonished though she wasn't surprised.

Kim laughed. "No. So you liked his size?"

Alexis leaned across the table and moaned a little since it caused her muscles to fight back. "He was huge. I was sure he was going to split me in two."

Kim laughed even more. "Jack knows how to get here now. You have more than enough money for maybe another two or three trips depending on how many times you pay him each time." Kim was sure Alexis had paid him twice.

Alexis was sure her blush deepened. "Maybe." She couldn't help but admit that she wanted to get her hands on that cock again. To see and feel his massive blue cock going in and out of her white pussy.

"Don't look now but someone is watching, looking your way." Kim nodded in his direction that had Alexis looking.

"He's cute." Kim liked the look of him.

"He's blue," Alexis stated.

"They all are here. Remember the saying," Kim grinned.

Alexis tried again. "He's bald."

"All the males are; only the woman have hair. I'm going to go get us more drinks," Kim announced even if she didn't want to walk anywhere.

"NO!" Alexis didn't want to be alone; she reached out to stop her but missed.

Kim watched everything and watched him walk away smiling, obviously pleased. She smiled as she walked back with new drinks. "And?"

Alexis covered her face with her hands. "We're going out on a date tomorrow. He's going to meet me here."

Kim beamed, happy for her. "We need to go find a sex store. It should be easy since they are everywhere on this planet." Kim saw Alexis's questioning look. "So you can buy a cock ring in case he doesn't own one." Kim thought it was obvious.

"OH GOD!" Alexis let her head fall to the table, listening to Kim laugh at her.


	18. Chapter 18

**One**

 **Chapter 18**

They both needed a break after that trip. Alexis was in her usual place while Kim was in hers.

Kim couldn't handle the silence any longer. Sure she had been here several times and all alone each time. But now she had a partner with her and that partner was giving her the silent treatment. She stopped floating and made her way over to where Alexis was. She winced a little with each kick of her legs. It had been a hell of a trip and she didn't regret it. However, there was a price to pay beyond actually paying for it.

"You're angry with me?" Kim questioned and heard Alexis say no softly. "You didn't enjoy it?" Kim was pretty sure she had. After all she had paid for it twice; that must count for something.

"No…I mean, yes." Alexis changed her answer quickly.

"Then what? Please talk to me." Kim didn't want her to sulk like she was now.

"I…I just never would have done that at home and then there's the worst part." Alexis was more upset with herself than Kim.

"Worst part?" Kim didn't understand.

Alexis sighed heavily. "Some of my friends and I were talking once. One of them, Angela, had a new boyfriend and all she did was talk about how much sex they were having and how much she loved his…" Alexis was still a little shy about it.

"His cock." Kim had hoped she was past this part now.

"Yeah. It was like she worshiped it or something. We teased her a lot about it. We told her that she was PW," Alexis explained, not hearing Kim say anything but knowing she was looking at her, that she didn't understand. "Prick Whipped. She would do anything so long as she got to get her hands on his…prick. Or have it inside her."

"Okay, so what's the point?" Kim didn't get it.

"I can still see his…prick and I can't wait to get my hands on it again. To feel it inside me. To see my white body against his blue prick." Alexis fell farther into the cushions.

"Is that all?" Kim understood now. "You have the control, Alexis. You have control over if you'll ever see him again."

"I know, but that's not the point. I want his prick in my hands, so I can…" God, this was embarrassing.

"So go on your date and play with his big blue prick." Kim reminded her of their little shopping trip. "You have a ring for him to use. OR, you can use the toy I bought. I'll share."

"It's not the same, and my date isn't until tomorrow." Alexis had to wait anyway.

"And what's your point, Ms Time and Space Traveler?"

That had her sitting up a little straighter. "Tomorrow to him but today for me." Alexis kicked herself for not remembering what Jack could do.

"Get up and get dressed. Take the ring with you and go get laid." Kim didn't see the issue.

Alexis started laughing. "I only just met him and I'm dating him." She got up and started walking. "OW! Maybe just a date and no sex. I'm still kind of sore from last time." She kept walking, just a lot slower.

Eventually she came back out wearing something that even Kim approved of. "Let me know how it goes. But not all the little details if you two do do it."

Alexis wasn't sure what she was going to do, though she did have the ring on her. "Be right back." Alexis touched a series of panels and vanished in a bright flash of light.

"That's my girl." Kim started smiling and then saw another flash of light; Alexis was back. Kim was all set to say, _"_ _T_ _hat was fast."_ To her the date only lasted a second. "And?" Kim saw her smiling and guessed what had happened.

"He's sweet. He's cute and he's funny and he has a job." Alexis liked him a lot. "He's a pilot for something called _Paradise."_ She actually thought he was sort of boasting to impress her.

"Paradise? Really?" Kim was impressed. "That cruise ship only launched a couple of years ago. Ask Jack about it. When it launched it was billed as being the biggest cruise ship in space at the time. I haven't kept up so there may be a newer and bigger one. So why isn't he on it?" How was it that he could take Alexis out on a date?

"He said they had a gold and silver crew. They switch off which one's onboard. He's presently off for the next week, then back on for three months."

"And?" Kim smiled widely at her.

"No, we didn't have sex. Not on a first date." Alexis had stuck to her guns and had resisted.

"Hmm." Kim was a little disappointed in her. She arched an eyebrow. "So when's the next date?"

"About a week; just before he ships out for three months." Alexis thought she was going to miss him. He was cute and fun.

"So change your clothes and go." He may have to wait but she didn't.

Alexis's mouth dropped open. "I **just** got back from a date with him."

"And?" What did that have to do with anything?

"I'm more sore now than when I left. I need to recover first." Alexis couldn't believe she was saying that. "I'm going to go take a shower." She turned her back on Kim and began shuffling toward the bedroom.

"My new blue toy is in the top drawer. It's state of the art," Kim teased. "It had better be state of the art; it cost me enough," she muttered to herself.

"SHUT UP!" Alexis called over her shoulder and continued her trek to the bedroom to strip.

Kim chuckled as she went back to floating in the pool.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis just wanted to take a nap yet Kim's voice telling her where her blue toy was located had her looking at it again. She **had** been there when she had bought it, after all.

It looked almost exactly like Bradley's. "NO!" Alexis dropped it back in the drawer and slammed it shut. If she was going to do it she wanted the real thing. Even if this thing was touted as being capable of being warmed up and could shoot a liquid at the touch of a panel. It could do everything a real one could do. She didn't even have to hold it.

Still the drawer haunted her until she finally fell asleep.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

"Anything?" Ryan called across to Espo. Getting nothing, he threw a pencil, hitting him in the head. He tried again. "Anything?"

Esposito hit his keyboard. "He's a ghost. He has a drivers license that was issued last year. It lists an address that doesn't exist. No social security number associated with that name. No bank accounts, so no history. His phone was a burner that didn't have any numbers stored in it." Espo was getting nowhere and it was pissing him off.

Ryan answered his phone on one ring, listening for a moment then writing the address down. He held up his Post-it note. "We've got his car."

That had Espo smiling. He got his weapon out and prepared to leave. There was one more thing, though. He headed to Gate's office. "Uniforms have found his car. Ryan and I are headed out to look it over and start canvassing the area to see who has seen what."

"Get CSU to haul it in and have it taken apart. Piece by piece if they have to. Find out what you can. If he killed one of us he may have killed more. …I hate cop killers." Gates dismissed him.

Ryan and Espo were in the elevator. Javi hated her. "She hates cop killers because it deprives her of the fun of firing them."

"I'm not saying you're wrong, but you might want to give her a chance." _Before condemning her out of hand_ was what he was thinking. Though the problem was Javi might be right.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"Looks like a rental," Esposito commented, looking around for something to break the window open so they could gain entry. Ryan smugly pulled out a key and unlocked the door as Espo sneered at him.

"Pop the trunk," Espo told him, leaving the interior to him.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Both of them were still searching when CSU showed up with a tow truck. They relented and let them take it. Maybe they would find what they hadn't.

Espo was ready to kick something. "Not a damn thing."

"Not even the rental documents. Don't you need those if you got in an accident? For insurance?" Ryan questioned.

"It was as clean as his history. Not even a change of clothes." Espo couldn't believe it. He started thinking about him again. "Ya know, he strikes me as hired help."

"So who would hire him and who would train him?" Ryan didn't think there was a Guns "R" Us anywhere. Then Espo looked at him like he had just hit on something.

"There's only one that trains you to kill people." Espo hated it but it fit. "The military. Our guy used to be in the military or maybe still is."

"You're beginning to sound like one of those spy movies where the Russians train spies to infiltrate and assassinate people." Ryan was amused. If Javi was right, they were in over their heads. Way over their heads.

"I know a guy who owes me a favor. Maybe he can tell us who our guy is and where he's been. Maybe that will point us at who hired him." Espo began planning how to convince him to do it.

"So why kill Beckett or try to kill her?" Ryan didn't understand. What did she know that they didn't?

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

Alexis was still a little sore as she sat across from Kim eating breakfast. "So what's next?"

"Your date?" Kim smiled.

"Not for another week. Though, if necessary it can be a month for me and only a week for him. Which reminds me, I need to go home and check in. I really want to see how Kate is doing and Dad, too."

"There's something you should know." Kim had a lot to tell her. She took a deep breath and began telling her everything.

Alexis listened closely to what she had to say. "You're sure?" If she was, Alexis needed a plan. "What does a US Senator have to do with all this?"

Kim nodded. "Completely. Jill, download all of it to Jack. She needs to know if she's going to involve herself."

" _Download complete_ _,_ _"_ Jill informed them both a moment later.

Standing up quickly, Alexis found that that was a bad idea and sank back down. "I can wait a week. Time is on my side." She had learned and it had Kim smiling at her.

"I may have time but Dad and Kate don't. Can she be moved?" Alexis questioned. Then she shook her head. "Correction, **when** can she be moved?" Kim beamed at her.

"One week from when you provided the medications I gave you. That will be the soonest she can be moved safely. Though she will still require several more weeks. It will be difficult on her and whoever helps her. Plus if you intend to do this, she will require something else." Kim hated to do this. After all Kate was supposed to be dead.

"I'm going to get dressed and be right back." Kim stood and walked to the bedroom, giving Alexis a good view of her ass.

In a minute she saw a flash of light followed by another and watched as Kim came to her completely dressed, holding something. "When you get back in a second, we'll start looking for another clone." Kim held it out for Alexis to take.

Alexis understood the meaning. Turning back was no longer an option. She nodded without hesitation. "I'll be right back." Alexis was all in. She would figure out how to get into a college later. She had time, lots and lots of time.

: {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} : {o} : {o} : {O} :

Alexis knew this was going to be difficult. She had gone forward in time until Kate could be safely moved even though she herself hadn't been there in at least a week. She exited the pool house and then left the pool to go inside. She immediately found her dad in the kitchen, cooking. She tried to be casual like nothing had changed. "Hi, Dad."

"ALEXIS!" Rick dropped his spoon and hit the pot that was on the stove as he spun around, sending it flying. It landed on the floor, spilling everything in it along the way. "DAMMIT!" Now he had to clean up and start all over again.

She cringed at the mess. "I'll get the mop and bucket."

"You don't move an inch, young lady! I have a lot of questions for you." Picking the pot up off of the floor, Rick put it in the sink and started searching for something to clean up his mess. Alexis didn't listen; since she was sure the mess was too big for a few paper towels.

Rick got up off the floor to throw away his handful of paper towels. "Alexis?" He didn't see her and that was after he had told her not to move. He bellowed her name. "ALEXIS!"

"I can hear you, Dad." Alexis held up the empty bucket and the mop, knowing that the floor cleaner was under the sink.

"I told you… Wait, what did you do to your hair?" Rick finally noticed and was shocked

Alexis put the bucket in the sink and turned on the hot water. "Like it?" She ran her hand through her hair. "I think it makes me look older. A little more grown up. …Don't you like it?" She didn't know why she needed his approval but suddenly she did.

"What did you…" Rick looked closely at her hair. "It's…red." It made her look different and he had to admit that it made her look more grown up; that was the real problem.

Alexis poured some of the floor cleaner into the bucket as the hot water ran. She turned off the water and left it. "Clean up, Dad. I'm going to go see Lanie or Susan." She didn't know who she would find. "I'll be back, we need to talk." Alexis headed for the stairs leaving behind a still shocked Rick who was staring at her as she left the room.

Alexis took a peek at what was Kim's room and saw Lanie sleeping in the bed. That told her she would be talking to Susan.

Before she stepped into the bedroom, she used Jack to extract what she'd brought with her from the pouch attached to her back. "Hi Susan." Alexis found her lounging on a chair not far from Kate.

"Alexis." Susan got up and worked at meeting her half way.

"Dad, I presume?" Alexis looked at all of the flowers that filled the room.

"Your dad may have over done it just a bit," Susan had to admit but still it had been beautiful.

"I brought something for you to start using and I need you to train Dad how to use it. Can you go get Lanie for me, please?" Alexis really only wanted to do this once.

"Sure." Susan left to go wake Lanie. It allowed Alexis to go over to Kate who looked to be sleeping.

Getting down on her knees to look at Kate, Alexis leaned toward the woman. "Kate…are you awake?" Alexis watched her eyes snap open. "Hi." Alexis gave her one of her best smiles.

"Alexis." Kate was pretty sure she recognized her, then she focused on her hair and squinted.

"Like it? It's sort of growing on me." Alexis kept her smile. "How are you feeling?" She was hoping she was better since it had been a week for her.

"Shit! …Better." Kate had noticed that her filter was off most of the time. What she was thinking usually came flying right out of her mouth.

"They have you all wrapped up, I see. …I'm really sorry that they did this to you." Kate noticed that her smile was gone and she looked sad suddenly.

"How's Dad?" Alexis really hoped her dad was living his life again. She watched Kate start smiling then she saw tears. "What did he do?" Alexis was going to kill him.

"Proposed. Kate took another breath. "He proposed."

Alexis felt her mouth fall open and her eyes open wide. "Dad proposed?" Alexis couldn't believe it. She knew her dad loved her since he had turned himself into a vegetable after Kate had been killed. But this was really a shock. "That's great!" Except it left her with a question. She was all set to ask if Kate had said yes when Lanie and Susan showed up.

"Alexis!" Lanie got down on her knees and hugged Alexis tightly.

"Hi Lanie, how's Kate doing?" If she was going to get a straight answer it would be from Lanie.

"She's making progress, good progress. It was a challenge at first. We were really afraid that she was going to lose a lung. But we think we're past that. The last set of x-rays looked a lot better."

"And the heroin?" Did she still need a fix?

Lanie nodded. "That and getting her to eat has been the major problem lately."

"I'm eating," Kate grumbled, offended, since she thought she was eating more than she should.

"Diarrhea isn't eating, Kate. It's why we're giving you fluids," Lanie snapped as Alexis looked up at the bag that was hanging. Something she had missed earlier.

Kate huffed her displeasure at it all.

"We have a complication that needs to be dealt with. But first I brought something new for you to use. You need to train Dad on how to administer it."

Lanie took it but looked at Alexis with a question. Why did she need to teach Castle anything? Alexis sighed, screwing up her courage a little. Then she dropped her bomb. "The people that had Kate shot and taken from the hospital have learned that she's alive." They all heard Susan suck in a breath and covered her mouth. Lanie, though, took it more in stride.

"They'll start looking for her and eventually find that Dad owns this place, sending someone to finish what they started. It's highly probable that they won't stop at just Kate." Kim had warned her that if it was her, she would kill everyone and leave no one behind. She'd burn the place to the ground to cover up everything.

"More security? I can call Javi and Kevin," Lanie said.

Kate sounded off, giving them her opinion. " **NO!** "

"Kate, we haven't come this far just to let them kill you. Not if we can prevent it. Surely you know how much your friends are willing to risk to help you?" Lanie hoped she had learned at least that much.

"Too much." Kate saw them risking too much.

"I have a plan, however." Alexis had stopped after leaving Kim and had worked it out with Jack. "I need to talk with Dad and you need to teach him what to do." Alexis looked at Lanie and Susan. "They need to leave here today or by tomorrow morning – no later. This place absolutely needs to be empty by early tomorrow. They can't find anyone or anything that will tell them where everyone has gone." Her plan meant her dad had to do all the work. He really needed to be ready for this.

Lanie had just one big question. "How?" How did Alexis know all this?

That was when Rick announced his presence. "That's my question, too." He wanted answers from his daughter.


	19. Chapter 19

**One**

 **Chapter 19**

Rick was still fuming as he drove back to the house. Alexis hadn't told him or them much of anything. Only insisted that they had to listen to her. He hadn't let that just go and had questioned her even while Lanie and Susan tried to instruct him how to use what Alexis had brought. "Castle! Focus. This is Kate's life we're talking about. Not what Alexis knows or how she learned it. This is not going to be easy on either of you. NOW FOCUS!" Lanie had reached out to twist his ear.

He didn't notice that he had lifted his hand to hold his ear as he drove. It didn't really hurt any longer. It was just that it had taken a beating over the last week. "How does she know so much?" he muttered to himself then slammed on the brakes. He had almost missed his turn toward the house.

Rick still wanted answers as he entered the house and found everyone except his daughter downstairs. Kate was dressed in clothes that he hadn't seen before. There were also suitcases, blankets, and boxes for him to load. "I've got the car and it's full of gas," he announced. "Where's Alexis?" He had questions and he wanted answers.

"We haven't seen her lately," Lanie informed him.

"Leave the girl alone, Richard. Hasn't she done enough already? She's a big girl." Martha wanted him to focus on Kate, not on drilling his daughter. "We'll help you load the car." Martha said, picking up a pile of electric blankets. Lanie and Susan took turns taking things out to the car so that Kate was never left alone.

"Where did you get this thing?" Martha inquired curiously. It didn't look like anything he would buy.

"We need to try and disappear, Mother, not stand out," Rick grumbled defensively. Granted in the Hamptons his choices had been few. He'd found a 1996 Toyota RAV4. It had every option that had been available at the time and it still had a tow bar on the front. That told him that someone had used it to tow behind an RV. It helped explain the low miles.

Rick had placed Kate in the front passenger seat and turned to face everyone else with the exception of his again absent daughter. "I don't know what to say." For once he was at a loss for words.

Susan spoke up first. "Just remember what we taught you, Mr. Castle."

"I'll do my best." Rick hoped he was ready for this. He handed Susan an envelope. "I paid you for the full four weeks as was part of our deal."

Meanwhile Lanie went to Kate. "Try to keep Castle in his place. He really needs to focus and he truly does love you, Kate," she reminded her yet again.

"I know, Lanie, I know." Kate looked down at the engagement ring that was finally on her finger.

"Do you really think Josh would even do half of what writer-boy is doing?" Lanie challenged. She watched her shake her head and saw the tears start. "Let him help you. It's not a weakness and you truly need help. You're not off of the heroin and your infection isn't really under control. Please let him take care of you. That man loves you, all of you."

Kate reached out to hug her best friend. "Thanks, Lanie." The M.E. retreated and Kate found Martha standing there next.

"I'm really happy for you, Katherine." Martha reached in to hug her. She took hold of her left hand to look at the ring once again. "My son can be a handful as you well know, but he means well. Try to listen to him and occasionally put him in his place."

"I'll try," Kate said softly since all this was tiring her out fast.

Rick had hugged everyone and got in the drivers seat. "Ready to start?" He glanced over at Kate who looked back at him.

"No, but do we have a choice?" Kate answered wearily.

"We're going to be fine. We've got GPS, clothes, medicine, and a little food." The back of the car was full.

"Where are we going?" Rick hadn't shared their destination with anyone, not even her.

"You're going to love it. It isn't even cold there yet." He knew the weather wasn't going to last but he didn't know how long they were going to be there. He had rented the place for an entire year under his given name, Richard Rodgers, hoping that they wouldn't actually stay there that long.

"Here, hold this one." Rick held out a cell phone to her. "I bought us three burner phones and another three for Lanie and Alexis to use. No one knows where we're going except me." He reached out and input the address for their destination.

Kate strained to see what he was typing. "Montreal?" She wondered why there.

"It's a little over 6 hours away and our apartment is just down the street from a hospital." He'd chosen it partly for that reason. Also because it came furnished. It wasn't as fancy as he was used to, but he was willing to rough it if it meant Kate was safe.

Kate looked at the final address and tried to memorize it. 1745 Cedar, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1A7. It didn't really tell her much other than it was in Montreal. "Tell me about it? …We have 6 hours."

"Well, it's one bedroom, has recently been upgraded, and has an open kitchen, living, and dining areas. It might be a little more white than you like but I was in a hurry to find a place. It has a pool and an exercise room for when you're better. It backs up against a really large park that's filled with walking trails for you to use. Mount-Royal Park to be precise, which is only 5 minutes away from downtown. Our place comes with one underground parking place so we don't have to chip off ice in winter. There's even a doorman for a little added security. There are a lot of restaurants and groceries not far away on the other side of route 138. Even a small mall on Atwater." He didn't remember much else.

"Sounds nice."Worn out, Kate leaned back tiredly and closed her eyes.

"Just rest, Kate, we'll be there in no time." Rick took a peek at her and saw that she had closed her eyes. "I love you," he reminded her again and saw her smile for a moment.

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Espo went in early and sat down at his desk, beginning to go over what his friend had found out for him. It had cost him a little, not the least of which was it the last favor he was going to get from him. He'd had to buy a laptop for him to use and then he'd transferred it all to a storage device before pounding it into tiny little pieces. He had even scattered those pieces over several dumpsters in different locations.

He was still reading when Ryan showed up. "You look worried." He had seen any number of looks on his friend's face and this wasn't one of his usual ones.

"My friend came through. We got a name for Cole Maddox and his background," Espo informed him tersely. Ryan moved around to read over his shoulder.

Ryan read as fast as he could. "This is so not good," he commented after he made it half way through. He didn't like who had the capability to hire someone like this guy.

"I remember this group. They were talked about a lot during the war. They did a lot of black ops. Ops that were meant to be kept off the books. A very dark group full of killers." Espo thought he knew just who Maddox was.

"You know he's not going to talk," Ryan pointed out as Espo shook his head.

Esposito sighed frustratedly. "He's trained not to talk. He's not going to say anything." They might know who he was but he wasn't going to lead them to anyone.

"Javi, Kevin," a new voice called out. Both of them turned to see who it was.

"Alexis?" Espo looked her over, not sure it was her.

"I like the hair." Kevin knew his way to a woman's heart. Alexis ran a hand through her red locks.

She smiled at them. "I made a change." Her smile faded as she fished a flip phone out of her pocket and handed it to Javi. "I brought you something. And you need to know that Dad and Kate are on the run. The people that tried to kill Kate know that she's alive. This phone only has one number in its memory. Dial it and you'll get my dad. Use it carefully."

"SHIT!" Espo didn't like the news. "Where are they going?" Then he waved his hand and shook his head. "Don't tell us even if you know."

"I do know, actually, and I won't. Kate still isn't in very good shape. They both have a lot of work to do. I hope my dad's ready for it." She knew he loved her but was he grown up enough to see it through?

Ryan took a chance. "I don't suppose you know who?"

"Yes, I do." That was why she was there.

"Seriously?" Espo was shocked. So far Alexis had proven to be a wealth of information and he couldn't believe it.

Alexis leaned past him and used his computer to do a search. "Him."

William H. Bracken

Ryan moaned and Espo cursed. "Why does a sitting US senator want Beckett dead?" What kind of threat did he think she was? Or was he just some homicidal madman drunk on power?

"That I **don't** know. I do know that he's already put a hit out on her. He wants her dead." Alexis didn't know much else and neither did Kim to any great degree. "I've found one other thing." Alexis used the computer to show them something else. "He uses this bank to make all of his illicit payments. If you can get into it you might find out something."

"Break into an offshore bank." Ryan was thinking they stood a better chance of being struck by lightning.

Espo turned to look at her. "How do you know all this?"

"Dad isn't the only one with friends." Alexis remained mysterious. "I have to go. Good luck and be careful with that phone," she cautioned before beginning to walk away.

Espo really wanted her to stay so he could ask more questions but he also saw Gates sitting in her office talking on the phone. He saw her watching every step Alexis took. He spun back around and wiped his screen clean then cleared his browsing history before Gates came asking them questions. "A senator." Espo still had trouble wrapping his head around that.

Ryan sat down at his desk. "How do we investigate a senator?" he questioned quietly, sneaking a peek at Gates.

"Carefully, very carefully." Espo wasn't sure how they were going to do it either.

Ryan questioned his friend. "You believe her?"

"She led us to Beckett. I don't think I want to know what would happen to Beckett if she hadn't." It almost made Espo ill. Thinking about Kate being strung out on heroin. Doing tricks to get the money to get her next fix.

"Yeah." Ryan didn't want to picture it either. "First thing, we need to find out where he is now. If it's not New York, our options are limited." Due to jurisdiction constraints, they were both confined to New York.

"See what you can find out about him. His past. Has he been married? What kind of car does he drive if he even has a car?" Espo worried that senators were all ferried around by a driver. "I'm going to see if he has arranged a fund raiser. Maybe we can get in close and get him worried."

Ryan's eyebrows shot up. "And have a guy like Maddox come after us?"

Esposito huffed. "So we don't confront him. We still need to know everything about him.

The sound of Gates' voice made them both jump. "Why was Alexis Castle here?"

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Kim was thinking about getting out of the pool and getting dressed so that they could start work on the next clone when a flash of light caught her eye. She swam over to the edge of the pool. "How did it go?"

"Keeping secrets from my dad is harder than I thought. He's always been there for me since I was little. We made a deal that we would always tell each other the truth. No matter how hard that truth was. Now I can't tell him things." Alexis hated that.

"I'm sorry, but you just can't tell him. Maybe you trust him and maybe you shouldn't. What we're doing isn't for everyone. Just think of what you could find out that would benefit him or others." Kim only saw trouble.

Alexis hung her head. "Powerball numbers, stocks to buy, what technologies will dominate in the future." She saw it but didn't think her dad would do anything with it. But Kim was right, she couldn't risk it.

"Not just that, but people. Try not to think about it. Go on your date. When you get back we'll go in search of the next clone." Kim started to get out of the pool.

"My date!" Alexis had forgotten about it thanks to her dad and Kate being in danger. "You're sure Dad can use that stuff? He can be a little…well, flighty." Alexis didn't want to speak bad about her dad, only there were times when he was a little challenged. Plus she wasn't sure just how much longer her dad was going to act like a grown-up.

"It's foolproof, he'll be fine," Kim assured her.

"Kate's medication – is it from the same place?" Alexis questioned suddenly.

"Their society may revolve around sex but they're really good at medicine. They've learned a lot about the body. Theirs mostly, but their medications will work on humans. He just needs to follow the directions and do what it tells him to do when it tells him to." He couldn't be early and he didn't dare be late.

"I'll remind him after he gets to Montreal." Jack spoke in her ear. "Which is now. Be right back. …After my date." Alexis was catching on that she could travel through time and not just space; she vanished in a flash of light.

"She's catching on – maybe a bit too fast." Kim started laughing then snapped her mouth shut when another flash of light signaled her arrival.

"And?" Kim was curious.

"Dad was a pain; he was full of too many questions. I tried to make sure he followed the directions. Kate's life is in jeopardy so I don't think he's willing to risk it." He loved her too much to screw around.

"And your date?" That was what Kim really wanted to know.

"It was nice. He took me on a tour of the city and told me about other places on the planet. It looked and sounded nice and he was sweet." Alexis was beginning to like him. Kim continued to stare at her. "No, we didn't have sex." Alexis knew just what she was asking. "He ships out tomorrow for 3 months." So she was going to have to do without for 3 months.

"You could meet him at the planets he stops at. He can't be on the bridge the entire time." Kim saw Alexis smile and vanish in a flash of light. She began smiling when Alexis showed up a second later holding a brochure of the stops the ship would be making. She took it from her.

"I don't actually know this planet, however this one," Kim pointed and let Alexis look, "has some of the best beaches and clearest water of any planet I know. The locals never actually started using their natural resources to generate power. They are the supreme leaders of natural power. They export equipment and their designers and contractors are always busy, mostly on other planets." She'd been very impressed by them. "If you two want to settle down that would be the place," Kim teased, gladly enduring the daggers Alexis sent at her.

"Show up on the planet in a bikini and a beach bag and invite him down on his off time," Kim suggested. "You could rent a room!" Alexis snatched the brochure back from her and said nothing.

"Okay, I get it. We need to look for the next clone. Have you thought about where you want to go after?" Kim knew she likely didn't know much so her options were small.

Alexis blurted, "The Singing Stones! Do they have a hotel? We could stay a couple of days and wait for it."

"They do but it's always full. You need to make reservations at least a year in advance," Kim warned.

Alexis was bummed at first and then she thought about it. "And your point?"

That had Kim laughing. "I was right; you **are** too smart for your own good. Be right back." She scrambled into the bedroom where she put on her cat suit then vanished in a flash of light only to return in another flash of light. "I had to go back two years and we now have a reservation. One bedroom, mini kitchen, balcony with a hot tub and a Jacuzzi tub. It looked nice. Cost me more than I was willing to spend but we have a view." Kim had money but she wasn't rich.

Alexis's face flushed; she suddenly felt bad about that. "I'm sorry, do you have the money for it? I've gotten use to Dad being rich. I could ask him for almost anything."

"I'm fine. I bought a moon, after all, and you haven't seen everything that's there." Her weapons system had actually cost more than the moon itself. "Granted I don't have that much any longer. I really need to finish this before I get old **and** I really want to get my old job back."

"You're not old," Alexis asserted.

"Thanks. …Jill?" They had discussed their next choice and had chosen one.

" _Program complete_ _;_ _transfer to Jack complete."_

"Let's get started." Kim raised her arm, pressing a series of panels, and was gone in a flash with Alexis right behind her.

They both arrived, looked around, and saw no one. "Invisibility for now. We may change later," Kim instructed Alexis and they both disappeared.

The buildings were mostly low and looked to be built using bricks though there was one that looked like stone. Turning a corner, Alexis stopped dead in her tracks. "Where are we exactly?"

" _This is Loatian in the 24th_ _c_ _entury_ _,_ _"_ Jack answered.

That didn't help Alexis much since she was sure she saw a lot of 1920s Packards, Pierce Arrows, and Cadillacs. "Not the 1920s on Earth, Jack?" Alexis queried uncertainly, needing verification since it really looked like it.

" _Negative, this is not Earth."_

"Problem?" Kim inquired, noticing that Alexis had stopped.

"It looks like the 1920s in Chicago, Illinois, in the USA. It was a time filled with gangsters. There were drive-by shootings, lots of drugs, and other illegal things. Bank robberies, gangsters fighting over turf. A lot of the police were on the take at the time. Only Jack says this isn't Earth." Alexis didn't see how that was possible.

Kim was thankful for the information and started looking around. "Then we stick with roofs, for now." Kim fired her device and went up, followed by Alexis right next to her. Kim touched a series of panels. "No DNA within range. We're going to have to do a search. Hopefully she hasn't gone far." She didn't want to have to search the entire planet.


	20. Chapter 20

**One**

 **Chapter 20**

Rick had left Kate in the car while he went inside and signed all the paperwork. He got the keys and was given his parking space. He was also given a list of companies that he had to contact to open up an account. Water, garbage, pest control, and sewer fees were all included in his lease agreement. He had to contact the utilities and set up an account so that they could start charging him directly.

He decided he would move the car from the front door after he got Kate inside and comfortable.

He soon had everything in the living room or on the kitchen counter. He would unpack later; first he had to tend to Kate.

"The directions tell me that you need one of these powder mixes and that I need to apply some cream to your wound," Rick mentioned as she rested in the living room.

Kate silently took the glass of water that Rick handed her and drank it down. Though what she really wanted was a shot and she wanted it badly. "What was that one for?" she inquired curiously.

"That one was to try and help you with the heroin habit. This cream is to combat the infection that you still have." Rick showed her the large tube that he had been given.

Kate held out her hand for the tube.

"Take your top off, Kate." Rick started twisting off the cap so he could squirt some out.

"I can apply the cream myself, Castle." She didn't need his help for that. Plus she didn't want him seeing her breasts.

Rick tried again. "Top, Kate."

Kate's eyebrow raised. She countered with, "Cream, Castle."

"I'm not going to win this, am I?" Kate had always been stubborn and he'd tried to learn when to fight back. Rick watched as she shook her head and kept holding her hand out.

He needed to make sure she understood how important it was. "You have to apply the cream, not just around the wound, but all of the surrounding area. Your last x-ray looked better but there was still infection. Unless you want to lose a lung you need to apply it generously."

"Go unpack, Castle, and maybe make something to eat." She honestly didn't feel like it but it would keep him busy.

Kate watched him leave before she worked slowly at getting her top off and then stretched to try and reach her bra clasp. It was just that doing so stretched her wound and it hurt, it hurt a lot.

After the fifth attempt there were tears in her eyes. "Castle!" She needed help and she hated it.

"What's up?" Rick came out of the bedroom to find Kate sitting there in her black lacy bra. It was a sight that he knew was going to be burned into his brain for life.

Kate simply held up the tube and waited. "I can't get my bra off," she growled in frustration.

Rick let her keep the tube and had her bra unhooked in a second. "Thanks, you can finish unpacking," she told him. Only Rick didn't leave. "I can do it, Castle." Still Rick didn't leave. "I promise to use a lot," Kate said to him. "Food?" She wanted to distract him. Finally he walked away and back into the bedroom.

Kate slipped her bra off and pressed out a big glob of cream onto her fingers. However, when she looked down she could feel her tears starting. Her breasts had never been all that big but she had been happy with how they looked. Now they looked terrible to her. They had lost some of their fullness and looked a little more like bags hanging on her chest. She couldn't help it – she started crying and of course that had Rick running out of the bedroom to find her sitting there topless, crying.

"What?!" Rick sat down next to her. "Does it look that bad?" He meant the wound from the gunshot while Kate meant her breasts.

Kate couldn't stop the tears and spread her arms wide enough for him to see.

Rick reached out and gently touched his finger to her wound. "It does look a little mean." He took the tube from her, scooped what she had pressed out onto his fingers, and started to slowly spread it over her chest.

"It'll get better, Kate. Eventually even the scars will be hard to see." It wasn't just the scar of the gunshot, it was also the scar of the surgery.

Kate just sat there and endured him spreading the cream over her chest. "There, all done. You know what? I think it actually looks a little better." His eyes were directly on the gunshot wound.

She couldn't believe it. Her breasts were terrible and all he could talk about was her wound. Reaching up to cup his face, she leaned in to kiss him. This amazing man only cared about getting her better from being shot and hooked on heroin.

She broke from the kiss and stared into his eyes. What she saw there was his love for her. Why, she still didn't understand. He should kick her to the curb and find himself one of those blonde bimbos that he was in the paper with a lot.

Kate stroked his face with her fingers. She loved him and really did need him. "What about your writing?" She knew she was going to be forced to do almost nothing for a while but what was Rick going to do?

"I brought my laptop with me. I'll figure out what to do with the chapters later." He had no idea how to get them out to Gina but right now he didn't care.

"You're not in trouble?" She didn't want to be the cause of him losing his publisher or worse.

"I've been in trouble since my first book. Gina will just have to deal." Right now he didn't care if he never wrote again. He had Kate back and he was keeping her.

He picked up her top and began putting it back on her. "Why don't you rest for a while? I'm going to go start on fixing us something. After that I'll start making phone calls about how to get TV set up as well as everything else." If it was too late in the day he would just call tomorrow. Rick leaned in to kiss her and felt her kissing him back. "Let those two do their work. The next powder is in 6 hours, then every 24 hours after that, except for the cream which is more often."

"No more ice?" Kate wanted to be sure since it had been the worst part.

Rick started smiling. "No more ice. But you have to be wrapped up each night with the blankets plugged in. The next powder has to be followed with you being kept warm." He had every intention of wrapping his arms around an encased Kate every night.

Kate finished buttoning her top as she watched him begin searching the kitchen and unpacking the boxes they had brought with them. He was amazing. She knew of no one like him. "I love you," Kate whispered mostly to herself.

She didn't notice when she had gone to sleep. It wasn't until she snapped them open to find Rick sitting on the floor pressing soft kisses to her face. "Hi," he said with a smile.

Kate smiled back. "Hi." She reached out to run her fingers through his hair.

"Ready to eat something?" he asked her and helped her to sit up. "Nothing solid yet but it's getting better." He could actually put something in her soup now.

Kate actually let him feed her again. She was starting to get used to it. At first it felt a little humiliating. Now it felt like he loved her and she was showing that she loved him back.

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Kate's eyes snapped open from yet another nightmare. What she saw, though, was Rick's sleeping face. The nightmare of seeing that guy's cock already hard and being pressed into her face was still fresh in her mind. She shuddered and exhaled a shaky breath. She looked at Castle in repose. She knew eventually that they would have sex and that it was going to be magical. It couldn't be anything less. But right now? Right now the idea of sex was a little repulsive.

She moved her hand and started stroking the lines on his face. She greatly feared that she had placed them there. She whispered his name, "Castle," and got nothing in return. "Rick." Kate squeezed the tip of his nose quickly before letting go. She watched his eyes snap open. She didn't see the dazzle that was usually in them.

"What's wrong? Are you in pain?" The questions spilled from his lips; he was afraid he was missing something. That he hadn't done something.

Kate shook her head. "No." Actually she felt great. She had something to tell him.

"What time is it?" Rick twisted his head to try and see the clock. Was it time for one of her powders? He had been warned to not miss one and make sure he met the times for each item. He sighed in relief. He still had a few hours. The clock also told him that he'd only been asleep for a short time.

"Rick." Kate needed his attention and watched him twist back around to look at her. Then she felt him pull her in closer. She squeezed a hand free and stroked her fingers over his face.

"I love you." Kate had never felt so free after finally saying the words. She had fought so hard not to. Now she saw him start to shed tears and all it did was raise her heart to new heights. She had never known just how empty her heart was until now. It was completely empty and it needed to be filled.

"I love you, too," Rick answered, placing a hand on the side of her face.

Kate reached out and met him halfway in a kiss. Her first kiss, knowing that she loved him. She had no interest in sex but she did want to relish in this moment and make it last.

"I'm sorry, Castle, so sorry." She had been difficult and put him through hell.

"Hush, Kate. It's over now, we're here. We're going to be amazing. You wait and see." Rick knew it was going to be great.

Kate's face went from ecstatic with hope and love to complete worry. "Someone wants to kill me."

"It's not going to happen. They had their chance and they failed. I'm not letting anything happen to you again. It hurt too much to be told you were dead the last time." He still ached inside, knowing that he'd let himself go that much. He tried to sound convincing. "When you're better we're going to find him and put an end to it."

Kate started to ask more questions but Castle placed a finger on her lips. "Don't. We **will** make it. Concentrate on that. Start thinking about where you want to get married and when. At the top of a mountain somewhere? On a beach dressed in a bikini?" Rick waggled his eyebrows a couple of times, getting Kate to chuckle at him. "Big, small, or just elope and start the honeymoon instead. Anything you want." He would find the money to do what she wanted.

Telling the world that he loved her wasn't a problem. He was already thinking of what to have a plane trail a banner behind it over the beach in the Hamptons. What was it going to say?

"Small, simple, perfect. No bikini, I want a dress. The most perfect dress. …Sunshine, lots and lots of sunshine. And love, lots and lots of love." Kate hoped she was capable of that.

"If New York doesn't have the dress you want, we'll fly to Paris or London and search there. Sunshine sounds like summer or spring. As for love, we will never lack for that. Not ever." Rick reached out to kiss her.

"Magical…we'll work on that. We'll work on that together." He was sure of it. There had already been enough pain. All that was left was the pleasure.

"And lots and lots of kids," Rick smiled teasingly.

"Just how many kids are you planning here?" Kate was happy now. She had never really thought about having kids of her own.

"Five, six. Eight, maybe." Rick couldn't hide his smile as Kate swatted him and felt herself starting to laugh. Her laugh however ended with her coughing from the pain.

"I'll get the pain medicine." He rolled away and jumped out of bed. Lanie and Susan had told him to use the last type of powder they'd given him for when she was in pain. He measured out the powder and the water, then mixed the two and was back to Kate in a minute or less. He helped her sit up and drink it down.

"We'll get there, Kate, it may take time, but we'll get there." Rick watched her pain fade quickly.

"Where did you get all this?" She meant the powders and cream.

"Alexis, actually. Where she got it, I have no idea." Rick still wanted a lot of answers.

"She looks different. So grown up." Kate was sure it was the red hair, but there was something else. She had definitely changed.

"Don't say that." He didn't want her to ever grow up. His best times were when she was a little girl and needed him for everything.

"Too late, Castle, but she is astounding. You should be proud of her. Whatever she decides to do with her life it will be extraordinary." She was still amazed by her. For someone so young, she was so capable of so many things.

Kate yawned wide and tried to cover it with her hand. "Bedtime for you," Rick announced as he moved to pick her up and carry her to bed.

"I can walk," she objected.

"I'll let you walk to the bathroom but it's kind of far from the living room to the bedroom. So I'm carrying you." Brooking no objection, he picked her up, finding yet again that she weighed next to nothing.

"Your next powder is in a few hours. I have to wrap you up for that one," Rick warned.

His head snapped around at the sound of someone knocking on their door. He pulled the weapon out of his pants as he reached the door and looked through the peep hole. Who he saw shocked him greatly. _It should be impossible._ He fumbled with the locks until he finally got the door open.

"Hi Dad." Alexis smiled broadly knowing that this visit was likely going to be difficult. She walked right past him and into the apartment, while handing off her full bag of goodies. Since she didn't see Kate, she guessed she was in the bedroom and headed toward the area she was betting it was located.

"Alexis!" Rick hustled to catch up and found her on her knees looking at Kate.

"Hi, I came to see how you're doing," Alexis explained.

"Better," Kate replied. Actually, given her problems she was amazed at how well she felt.

"Dad's giving you the powders and using the cream?" She was betting that Kate wouldn't lie, but she was almost positive her dad would deflect. Not lie, but not actually answer, either.

Kate simply nodded. "Thanks." She reached for one of Alexis's hands and squeezed.

"I also brought news that you should probably hear, since you both need to be prepared." Alexis had something to share that was going to rock their world. She took a breath and began speaking. "The person who shot you has been found and from him we've found out who hired him. That same person has also put out a hit on you. He's offered two million this time." Actually Kim was the one who had found out everything.

"Two million! Why? What does Kate know?" Rick demanded.

"I don't know. Honestly, Dad, I don't know." She really wished she did. "I do know who wants you dead so badly, though." She had a name thanks to Kim.

That shocked Rick into silence and a lot of his questions left his mind for the moment.

"His name is William H. Bracken. **Senator** William H. Bracken." Alexis saw the look of shock on their faces. "He has access to hired killers that've been trained by the military. Javi found his real name and is looking him up. The man who shot you is very dangerous." Alexis looked at Kate who was silent, as was her dad.

She got up and took the bag from her dad. "I brought you a few things that you are probably going to need," Alexis told them. She started pulling them out one by one and placing them on the bed. "Hair color – I chose blonde for you, Kate, but your hair will have to be bleached first. Hair color, hair color, scissors, comb, beard trimmer, hair color. I chose purple for you, too. Thought you might like a little highlight. Hair dryer, makeup case. That one came from Grams, by the way. She filled it with stage makeup. It'll cover up almost anything." Alexis had been thankful for that.

"Last but not least, a flash drive that has how to cut hair on it, plus how to dye hair and give it a splash of color. If Dad can do mine when I was little, he can do yours." Alexis had no doubt her dad would remember.

"I need to go but I'll try and remember to check in from time to time." Alexis knelt down to Kate.

"Dad loves you. I've had my doubts about you from time to time. I got a little angry with you on occasion. Try to love him back. He'll do anything for you, Kate." Alexis was pretty sure it would be not just money but other things.

"I do," Kate murmured; she was starting to fall asleep already.

"I need to go. Be ready, Dad, and be careful. Two million is a lot." She had no idea just how many people were already counting on getting that money.

Alexis began to move quickly toward the door. "Alexis!" Rick wasn't ready to give up on getting answers.

"I know, Dad, I know. But I can't, I just can't. Too much is at stake. Much more than just Kate's life. That's all I can tell you." Alexis stopped at the door.

"Cut her hair, color it, and give her the medication. It is going to take months. Oh, and I gave one of your phones to Javi. If he learns something important he'll call you." Alexis opened the door just as her dad took her by her arm.

"I…" Rick wasn't used to being in this position. This was an Alexis he hasn't seen before. She was always more grownup than maybe she should be, but this was even more. "Promise you'll explain eventually?" He resigned himself to the knowledge that his answers were just going to have to wait.

Alexis sighed, wishing that she could. "Maybe." It was all she could offer. "It's the best I can do, Dad. I'm sorry. Just be sure this is what you want. This isn't one of your stories." Derek Storm wasn't going to show up and save everyone.

Rick watched her walk away down the hallway and enter the stairs. As he continued to watch, he saw a brilliant flash of light leak out under the door. Running, he pulled out his weapon.

But the stairs were empty. "What? How? Where?" Then it occurred to him that he left the door open and Kate was alone. He quickly hurried back and locked the door.

Checking on Kate, he found her asleep and safe. "A senator?" He didn't understand. What had Kate gotten herself into? Or… Suddenly Rick had new questions. "Is this about your mother? What did she know? Does he fear that you know it too?"

He began searching frantically for his burner phones. The problem was that Alexis hadn't told him which one she had given to Javi. He was forced to wait for him to call or call Alexis or Lanie.

He chose to wait for now. It was only day one.


	21. Chapter 21

**One**

 **Chapter 21**

All Kate felt at the moment was pain and need. She had been trying to ignore it for hours but she had reached her breaking point. "Castle?" She finally gave in and yelled his name, waiting for a response. "…CASTLE!" It felt like it had been hours. When he didn't come running, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She didn't know where he kept the powders or just which one to use since she had never actually seen any of them. She just knew that she needed one of them. She didn't want a shot but she did want something. Anything!

It had been a few days already. They had gotten the TV and internet working just yesterday. She had listened to Rick bellow at the serviceman for being late. Between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM had been the time given. He had shown up at a little after 4:00. He hadn't even left yet when Rick came in and gave her one of her drinks with one of the powders in it. Rick began apologizing to her. "I'm sorry. If he had been here when he was supposed to be…"

Kate had simply reached up and pulled him down so she could kiss him. It had been fine, he was doing everything he could.

Now, though, she was pissed at him. She was in pain and he wasn't here. She was betting the powders were in the kitchen somewhere so she was busy opening cabinets when suddenly the front door opened. Kate practically jumped out of her skin and shrieked in fear. Her first thought was that it was one of Bracken's killers. Her next thought was that it was a normal burglar.

"You're up! Sorry I'm late. The sales lady was a pain." Rick shut and locked the door. "Are you hungry?" She still couldn't have solid foods yet. At least that was what the directions had told him.

"Medicine?" Kate grabbed hold of the counter when a sudden need almost had her spinning.

Rick, however, had seen it and she found herself in his arms while he held her up. He glanced at his watch. "Not for another one hour and eleven minutes." The directions had also been very specific: Follow them or else.

"Castle, PLEASE?" Kate wanted it now.

"How about something else?" Arguing with her had always ended badly for them in the past. He wanted to avoid another verbal altercation in any way he could. Rick guided her over to the sofa, sat her down, and hurried over to the counter to pick up the bag he had brought home with him. "I got you something…well two somethings, really." He brought the bag back over to her and sat down. "I had a lot of trouble finding this one but I'm sure you'll love it." He reached in, pulled it out, and handed it to her.

"A book?" She wanted one of the powders not a book. Then she looked at it and opened it.

Горе от ума

Грибое́дов, Алекса́ндр Серге́евич

"It's in Russian!" Kate looked up at him, astonished, and loved him just a little more. Her need for a shot or medicine was momentarily gone.

"I got you one more thing. This one was at considerable personal expense. It cost me greatly, just so you know." Actually the book she was holding had cost him a great deal more; it was that this one was more personal. Rick reached into his bag, pulled out another book, and handed it to her. "Patterson's latest."

Kate burst into laughter. "I love both of them. Thank you!" She leaned across to kiss him quickly. Then she ran her hand over the jacket of the Patterson book. She really didn't know which one she liked most. She liked them both, just for different reasons.

"Now you can read and lose yourself in the story." Rick smiled, pleased that he had made her happy. "I'm going to go start a soup. Here's the remote and you have your books. It'll be ready in no time." He leaned across to give her a quick kiss that had Kate kissing him back.

Kate watched him head for the kitchen and then looked down at her books. She mindlessly wiped away a tear that had escaped. "I love you," she said softly.

"I love you, too." She heard his response answer back soundly. Far more forceful than hers. "Food, Castle," she bit back, feeling a little exposed. Though she was learning to say it more often and was beginning to believe it herself. It felt good.

Kate chose the Russian book to open first and started reading and was already lost in it when Rick interrupted her. "Soup's ready." He swirled the spoon in the soup – strained broth from a Scottish dish, cock-a-leekie soup – and held up the spoon to her mouth.

Kate opened her mouth easily and let him feed her. It was actually quite tasty. "What are you writing," she asked him between spoonfuls. She noticed that he stopped and shrank a little before sitting back up straighter to keep feeding her. "Castle?" He hadn't answered her question.

"It's not important." Rick raised the spoon again only to have her intercept his hand with hers.

"Yes, it is. You're a writer, so what are you writing? What are Nikki and Rook doing now?" It was the series he was last writing.

"Nothing." Rick put the spoon back in the bowl and stirred it around. Then he felt Kate's hand beneath his chin, lifting his head up and looking at him. He sighed, his shoulders sagging. "I didn't take your being killed very well. I became a hermit and locked myself away. It's…it's partly why Alexis is so mad at me." Rick wasn't at all happy with himself, either. In fact he was quite angry at the way he'd behaved toward his family.

"So you're not writing?" Kate suddenly felt bad. It was her fault.

"I lost my inspiration. You were dead and nothing else mattered much." All Kate saw was pain on his face. She didn't know what to say.

"You're alive, that's all that matters. Don't worry about my writing. It'll come back." Rick righted himself, offering up a spoonful again, and went back to feeding Kate.

"You're writing, Castle, don't let me stop you." He had to write; it was who he was.

"Maybe when you're well enough to use the pool before it closes or the exercise room. I was thinking of joining you. We could get back in shape together." Rick suggested, knowing that keeping up with Kate was going to be a challenge.

"That would be nice." Having him close during her recovery suddenly sounded like the most perfect thing. She also became lost in her mind and went on autopilot as Castle continued to feed her. She questioned just who she was now. Part of her was scared that Castle was going to see everything. But he'd already seen everything. She couldn't take a shower yet but it hadn't stopped him from stripping her and giving her a sponge bath just like Lanie and Susan had done before.

All she saw in his eyes was his determination to accomplish the task and not hurt her. His face had never changed. She was sure she looked like hell. What little she had seen of herself had almost made her sick. She was a mess – inside and out – and he never said a word.

Yet he loved her. "All done," Rick suddenly announced; she looked at the empty bowl in surprise. "Is there more?" she asked, meaning both soup and powder. She was conflicted by just what she was asking; it was like he had read her mind.

Rick looked at his watch. "Twenty minutes." He handed her the remote and left her to head to the kitchen and clean up before giving her one of the powders. He would eat after giving her a drink with a powder in it. It usually knocked her right out. He didn't want her seeing him eat what she couldn't.

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Martha was alone and it was starting to get to her. Rick was with Kate and Alexis was she didn't know where. It had caused her to start working in her shop a little longer than normal. It was, however, also causing her to tire faster.

She was thinking of getting a small drink before bed when there was a knock on the door. "Now what?" she grumbled. She wasn't happy. Opening the door, what she saw gave her a shock. "Meredith!?"

"Martha." Meredith had hoped for someone else to answer the door. Though she undeterred and dragged her suitcase into the loft going past Martha. "Where's Ricky." Meredith walked straight to his office.

Martha told her the truth. "He's not here."

"Oh?" It was time for plan B. "Where's Alexis?" She could use her just as easily.

"No one is here, Meredith, and no one is going to be for quite a while." Maybe she would take the hint and leave.

"Where did they go?" She needed at least one of them. Meredith glared at Martha who always melted under one of her stares.

"No one knows where either of them are. Both are going to be gone a long time." Actually she knew her son would be gone for months. As for Alexis, she had no idea so she simply lumped her in with her father.

"I don't believe you. Where are they, Martha?" She was lying, Meredith was sure of it. She had to be lying. Meredith left her bag and marched into the master bedroom.

Martha thought she needed reinforcements so she went to the kitchen to retrieve the phone Alexis had left her. But all she got was voice mail. "Alexis, dear. Meredith is here and demanding to know where Richard and you are. She has a suitcase and she sounds…normal for her. Call me when you can." Martha hung up and put it away.

Martha watched Meredith storm out of the master bedroom and suffered the daggers her son's ex-wife sent at her. Then she watched her storm up the stairs. She could hear Meredith searching everywhere, probably including her room which only made Martha more upset that she was here. Martha could only hope that she would just leave but she doubted it.

Then the impossible happened. The front door opened and in came Alexis followed by…Kate? "Alexis?" Martha didn't know what to think.

"Is Mother still here?" Alexis inquired. Martha could only nod her head.

"Upstairs." Martha was still shocked and didn't know what to do or even think. Why was Kate here and why did she look so good suddenly? She was supposed to be with her son in hiding.

"I'll handle it," Kim announced, sprinting up the stairs.

"Alexis?" Martha questioned her as her granddaughter came over to her.

"I can't explain, Grams, just trust me." Alexis hated secrets but they were needed for now.

Martha had no trouble with that, though she did have a question. "Who was that?" She looked like Kate and yet she didn't act like her. Not the Kate that left the Hamptons.

Alexis opened her mouth and then closed it. However, she decided to give her grandmother a bone, so to speak. "That's Kim. She's a friend. A very good friend."

"Kim, the one with amnesia but who isn't Kate." Martha thought she was keeping up but it was hard.

Alexis was saved when Kim and Meredith began walking down the stairs. "She's leaving and has decided to never come back again," Kim announced as they all watched a silent Meredith go over to her bag and drag it to the door.

"Dear?" Martha had never seen Meredith like this before. She was sure that Meredith would put up more of a fight.

"Good bye, Mother," Alexis called out as they watched Meredith walk out the door and close it behind her.

"I think that calls for a celebration. Care to join me?" Martha suddenly felt a lot less tired and pulled a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator.

"Wine! Count me in." Kim wasn't going to turn down a glass. It was 21st Century wine so it had to be good.

Kim was liking what she was drinking. Martha asked her a question. "You're not Kate?"

"Obviously," Kim confirmed and then decided to add a little. "And no, I don't have amnesia."

"Katherine doesn't have a twin sister." Martha was pretty sure she didn't.

"Are you sure?" Kim smiled before taking a drink, her smile deepening at the look the older woman was giving her.

"Do I want to know?" Alexis had her own question and nodded at the front door.

"She won't be back again, not ever. Not unless she's invited." Kim had made sure of that. She also saw the look Alexis was giving her. "I'll explain later." Kim was willing to tell her everything, just not in front of Martha.

"Have you spoken with your father?" Martha changed the topic since it looked like she wasn't going to learn much and she was fine with that.

"I have. Dad and Kate looked to be doing fine. Dad was still involved and not being…as Kate puts it, a _jackass."_ It was a condition she knew her father was more than capable of being.

"I hope Katherine recovers. Being forced to take heroin and become addicted to it." Martha shook her head and shivered.

"She should recover but it won't be easy. The medication is not a cure-all but it will help." Kim had faith in what she'd gotten for Kate.

Martha asked another question. "How are you involved in all this?"

"Kim has certain strengths that she has agreed to use to help Dad and Kate." Alexis had been ready for that question.

Kim drained her glass and put it down. "We should go." She started to rise. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Rodgers. Alexis speaks highly of you."

Martha reached out for Alexis. "I don't know what you are doing, dear, but please be careful." The people that had done this to Kate sounded dangerous.

"She'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to her," Kim assured her, knowing that it was Jack that was going to do all he could.

"I look forward to meeting you again. Perhaps when either of you can explain what is going on." Martha was betting that wouldn't happen until Kate was back to her normal self. Hopefully with just a few changes. Like planning for a wedding with her son.

"Call anytime, Grams. Kim and/or I will be here to help you." Almost instantly since she had listened to her message and then traveled back in time to just after the message was left.

"Do I want to know what you did to my mother?" Alexis queried just outside the door before jumping for home.

Kim gave her a clue. "Drugs in the 51st century can do wonders if you know which ones to use and when. She won't even remember ever having been here or ever having seen me," she added.

"51st century." Alexis shook her head. Things were just so different. "Home or singing stones?"

"Well you didn't actually win this last time," Kim reminded her.

"I didn't lose either," Alexis countered. "And you want to hear them just as badly as I do, if not more. Plus we have reservations," Alexis smiled.

"That technically we can use even five years from now," Kim reminded her.

Alexis had lost and she knew it. "Home, it is." She wanted to save the singing stones for when she did win another one, not use it for a tie.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis was twisting and turning even if she didn't know it. But Kim had noticed since she wasn't used to having a bed mate. "Alexis!" Kim placed a hand on her arm and watched as her eyes shot open and she sat up suddenly. Kim got up with her. "Nightmare," she asked as she wrapped her arms around her. If she was forced to admit it, she more than liked this young lady now.

Alexis at first simply nodded. "All those bullets, all that noise." She had been to a gun range and knew the sound weapons fire could make. It was just that she had never before been exposed to what three Tommy guns could do.

"Jack got you out, that's what he's there for." Kim had Jill but she also had armor that Alexis didn't.

" _I would never let anything happen to you_ _,_ _Miss Alexis, not if I can help it."_ He had jumped her to home the second a single weapon had started to discharge. It was just that the other two had started before he could finish. He was thankful that Alexis wasn't in the line of fire at the time.

"Thanks, Jack." She knew she owed him her life. "What happened next? I know you showed up a little later and told me what you had found. Just what **did** happen?" Alexis was curious.

"You remember that we decided to switch from invisibility to clothing to blend in." Kim started from the beginning and felt Alexis nod her head. Kim smiled and chuckled a little. "Then we, though mostly me, got picked up off the street and taken into a building we were passing."

"By a man with a Tommy gun." Alexis nodded again. "He was really mad." She remembered him, too. The guy they were taken to see.

Kim sighed since Alexis was starting to wear off on her. Normally she wouldn't have let what he had done affect her like that. "I've met worse, but he was about as cold-blooded a killer as you will ever come across."

He had screamed at the guy he had given the order to take what they had learned was Kim's clone out and kill her and dispose of the body. They guy had argued back that he had done just that.

Remembering that he'd taken her bound body out to the boat and gone far enough out into the water, he knew it was unlikely that she could swim back and that was if she managed to free herself.

She had even begged him. "Please don't. He can fuck me anytime he pleases. I'll be his loyal slave." She wanted to keep her life.

He had simply laughed at her. Then he picked up her body and placed it over his shoulder. He wasted no time in chucking her into the water and then picked up the weights and threw them over the side. She yelled until she hit the water.

There was twenty feet of line between her legs and the weights. He was smiling widely when he saw almost no bubbles. She was trying to hold her breath and struggle to free herself.

"Good luck with that bitch." He had tied her arms tight to her side and had tied her legs together before adding the weights.

Then there was a large amount of bubbles. She had failed and had drowned. His only thought was that it was so dark down there that she wouldn't get to see that she had company.

"Except the bitch is alive, isn't she!" He had pulled out a weapon and had killed him on the spot. "Kill these two!" He had yelled at the other three men in the room.

Kim had yelled, "Armor," just as Jack had said, _"Program complete_ _._ _"_

The three Tommy guns had opened up at the same moment as Kim had deployed her weapon. Alexis was gone before Kim fired her first shot.

Kim would normally have just blown their heads off, but she needed them alive to tell her where her clone was located. In just four quick shots all four men in the room were down. However, the sound of gun fire brought three more men into the room who quickly succumbed to Kim's weapon fire.

Kim didn't even feel the few shots that struck her armor. "I still need to go back after I get some equipment so that I can swim down deep enough and see where I'm going." She had to find the body and get rid of all of the DNA. She feared that she had been dead for long enough that she wouldn't show up on her infrared. It meant she would need some equipment to do her search with. Her armor would protect her at any depth as well as provide her with oxygen.

"I thought they only did that in the movies." Alexis was still hugging her legs while Kim hugged her. "You think she was alive when they dumped her?" It was what they did in the movies.

"Try not to think about it. Go shower, get dressed, and go on your date. You know what planet he's stopping at and you have money. He should be able to take your mind off of it." Since Kim was convinced Alexis wasn't going to get to go back to sleep, she might as well enjoy being awake.

"What about you? He has an older brother," Alexis reminded her with a grin, turning her head to look at her.

"I'll think about it. Just remember, their society revolves around sex."

"I noticed." Alexis had never seen so many sex shops in her life on their first date. That and they even had live sex shows. Some professional and some amateur. She was still trying to come to grips with that. He'd told her about them but hadn't actually taken her to one even though he had offered.

"Alexis…" Kim needed to warn her given how shy she was. "He **is** going to expect to have sex with you. Even if you didn't on the first date, he is on the second. It's how their society works. They don't have any hangups over body issues or who has sex with who." Same sex sexual encounters were very common there.

"Yeah." Alexis had feared that a little.

"You may have body issues, but he doesn't. That's not part of their culture. You could be completely flat-chested and he would still pay a lot of attention to your chest. There's one thing, though, and it's important. Unlike the guy you paid for sex, this man can get you pregnant. His race and humans are compatible. You might want to stop at one of their sex stores and get something. Remember, their knowledge far exceeds what your doctors know," Kim warned.

That had Alexis turning to look at her again. She was on birth control, except that had been before she met Kim and started going with her. She had forgotten all about it.

"Maybe you could look around a little while you are at the sex store. You might find something you can't live without." Kim smiled broadly as she teased her a little.

"Like your big blue monster over there." Alexis gestured toward at the side table where Kim kept her toy.

"You would be amazed at what they've developed. For both sexes," Kim answered. "I don't have the money for one anymore and I'm not sure I want one, but they do have love dolls."

"A blow up plastic thing? No thanks." If she was going to have sex it was going to be with a real person.

"Trust me, he or she is not filled with air and is certainly not made of plastic. The higher end models even have personalities. They are fully functional and they also cost a small fortune. Only a few stores carry them because of that." Kim had looked at one or two years ago.

Alexis tried to think of a movie that would give her a visual of what Kim was talking about. "Like Cherry 2000?"

It also had Alexis remembering what Kim had told her in jest. _"_ _Once you go blue, you never go back._ _"_ She was starting to think that maybe it wasn't a joke. She actually did want to get her white hands on his big blue cock.


	22. Chapter 22

**One**

 **Chapter 22**

Kate woke up and rolled over, searching for Rick. She had been alone for years but now found that having him spooning her made her feel safe. Though she was starting to feel something more. Something closer to longing and wishing.

She hated the idea of feeling needy and yet she did need him. She just didn't need him to use the bathroom. So she swung her legs over the side and headed for the bathroom. The second she entered she stopped in her tracks since the mirror over the vanity was right in front of her. At first she feared that one of Bracken's killers had gotten in. Until she remembered when Rick had cut and colored her hair. Seeing it, she stepped in close and looked it over again.

It looked nothing like her. She was a bleached blonde. A really light gold color. However, Rick hadn't colored hair before and after his first attempt he had started opening another box to try again. "Leave it, Castle, I kind of like it." Kate had twisted her head to look. Sections of hair curved down to her jaw on either side of her head while the back kept getting shorter and shorter as Rick kept trying to fix his mistake. She had a big part right down the middle and that was where Rick had screwed up. Her dark roots were very visible on either side of the part.

"Where do you want the purple?" It was the next color that Alexis had left behind.

"Can we not?" Kate already saw two colors and she didn't recognize herself. Yes she'd had short hair when it was more reddish. Just it had never looked like this.

Suddenly Rick showed up behind her and she felt his arms wrap around her. She leaned back against him. "Like it yet?" She had been noncommittal after he had finished.

"I'll let you know. Now out! I need to use the toilet." Kate worked at escaping his arms. She glared at him until he was gone and closed the door behind him.

Next she walked into the kitchen where he was working. "Breakfast?" Kate was wondering what he was making.

"What have you done with Kate Beckett? The Kate I know doesn't eat," Rick teased.

"I ATE!" She just ate when she remembered to, that was all. "So what are you making?" She wasn't hungry but if she was going to get better she needed to eat something.

Rick ignored her question until he was done. Then he placed a bowl in front of her and saw the look on her face. "It's oatmeal with kiwi slices, banana slices, and a sprinkling of small pieces of Edam cheese." He was proud of himself. He had even placed the added goodies over the oatmeal in lines.

"Oatmeal?" Kate had never been a fan of oatmeal. There was just something about it.

"Give it a try. It's full of fiber and you need fiber." What she really needed was something fattening in his eyes. But according to Lanie and Susan her system couldn't handle anything fattening. Even his beloved chocolate was out for now.

Kate took a tiny spoon full and tried it since it was all she had. Kate's eyes opened wide and she started moving it around in her mouth followed by scooping up a large spoon full.

"Like it?" Rick's smile was wide; he beamed at her. He had taken a big chance with it during his last trip to get groceries.

"It's amazing!" Kate stabbed a kiwi and added it to what she was eating. She'd finished half the bowl when she noticed that Castle hadn't told her anything. "What is it? It's not oatmeal."

Relieved that she liked it, he told her about what he'd made for her. "It's made from chia seeds with soy milk and canned coconut milk. You blend it all together to get it to a yogurt consistency. Then add maple syrup and vanilla. I know how much you love vanilla."

"Chia seeds?" She'd never heard of such a thing and filled her spoon again and this time searched for the vanilla that she found instantly. "What?" Kate saw the look on his face as she used her finger to scoop out what was left.

"Nothing! I'm just glad you like it since I have a big bag of it. Did you know the Aztec and Mayan Empires considered chia seeds as being vital nourishment?" Rick was full of information. "You get a lot of calcium just from the seeds alone." Then his watch started beeping. He filled a glass with water, got one of the powders from the fridge, and mixed it in. He handed the drink to Kate.

"You keep the powders in the refrigerator?" That was a location she hadn't considered.

"Just this one; the others are somewhere else." Rick didn't care that she knew about this powder. It was the others that he didn't want her getting into so they were hidden away.

Kate drank it down. "You don't trust me?" She felt a little hurt. She had needed that powder and wasn't sorry she had gone looking for it.

Rick told her the truth. "You? Yes, and I always will. The drug addicted you? Not so much."

Kate stared at him, somewhat distressed that he didn't trust her. Then she looked down at her empty bowl, well aware that she had already tried to sneak in a dose. "Yeah."

"Kate?" Had she just admitted that she couldn't be trusted?

She looked up at him, her face flaming red. "I'm sorry, Castle, but I was hurting." Her need for another shot had gotten to her. She hurriedly tried to assure him that she didn't cheat. "I didn't find anything, though. I'm sorry."

He came around the island to hug her. "Heroin is a tough drug to beat. But we'll do it…together. I'm not going anywhere. And then we're going to get the people that did this to you." Rick wasn't going to give up on that. Kate didn't deserve what they had done to her.

"How? He's a senator." To Kate that meant he had power or access to power that she didn't have.

"One thing at a time, Kate, one thing at a time. For now we let our friends help keep us safe." Rick kissed her head.

He helped her over to the sofa and gave her the remote, placing both of her books within reach. "I'm going to clean up and start the laundry. If you need anything, just yell." He wasn't going far.

"You, I need you." She knew that she loved him even if saying the words was still a challenge. Maybe when she felt and looked better it would get easier. It earned her a quick kiss.

She wasn't big on TV of late so she chose a book. The challenge was just which book since she wanted to read one and tease Castle by reading the other. She chose her Russian book. She would read the other when Rick was sitting with her.

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Esposito went down to the morgue to find out what the pretty M.E. had on one of his cases. "What have you got, Lanie?"

Concerned, Lanie answered, "I don't know, I'm scared to call him and ask."

Javi knew exactly who she was talking about. "If there's anyone who will do whatever it takes for her, it's Castle." It was the one thing he was sure of.

"He really needs to keep up with those powders. I hope he was listening." His being dedicated, attentive, and acting like an adult had always been something of a challenge for him.

"He knows what's at stake, and I'll hurt him if he does anything stupid." Espo knew it was an empty threat since he had no idea where they were. "Hey, do you have any idea how little Castle knows so much?" They had her to thank for everything.

Lanie shrugged then shook her head. "The shots, the powders, the cream? I have no idea, Javi."

"She led us right to Kate. Plus the guy that had her was trussed up like a turkey waiting to be killed. That doesn't sound like her." He had never seen Alexis as being all that physical. At least not to that extreme.

"And a senator." Lanie hadn't like the implications when she had been brought up to date by Javi.

"He's not above the law, chica. He **is** going down." Javi knew it could be done, he just didn't know how they were going to do it.

"Do we know anyone that would help? That can help?" And not turn them in. To do some investigating quietly.

"You mean Sorenson?" Javi questioned. "He doesn't have the brains. His square face only knows what the FBI book tells him." He still didn't see what Beckett saw in him. "And don't even mention Doctor Motorcycle Boy." Javi hated him most of all.

Lanie had been shaking her head and stopped and glared at him like he had lost his mind.

"Fallon, maybe?" Javi suggested. He had worked with them on the dirty bomb case. He knew he was dedicated to the country. But would he see Bracken as a threat to the country and not just Beckett?

"What about that FBI lady? Kate sounded jealous of her when she was here for that Dunn case." Was she trustworthy?

Javi knew they needed someone. Someone with access to things that they didn't. He started nodding his head. "Jordan Shaw." He thought she might work. "Castle loved her smart board. I'll bet he had one at home before the end of the day." He knew Castle loved his toys. "I'll see what it takes to get hold of her without drawing attention to any of us." Even her help might not be enough. "If Bracken is on certain committees he's going to learn that the FBI is investigating him," Javi warned.

"Use the burner phone to contact her and warn Castle," Lanie said since Javi had told her that Alexis had left him a phone. "Take mine. Call her with one and Castle with the other." She left him for a moment to fish out her burner phone. Returning, she handed it to him. "Tell her what we know, but not how we know it." Lanie doubted that Shaw would help them if they were using what Alexis had told them.

"I'll use the observation room." Javi saw it as being the most secure room in the building.

"What about Gates? She came from…" Lanie stopped when she saw him shaking his head.

"Iron Gates hates cops. If she catches wind that Kate has even had one shot, she **will** bury her." As far as he was concerned, Gates was another enemy.

Lanie hated not having more help but she relented. She was down here in the basement and didn't have to deal with the captain all that often. "What about Tori?" Lanie had trust in her.

"If we come up with something for her." Right now they had nothing. "So, what about our guy here?" His body was got him down there in the first place.

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 **This section is rated M for a reason.**

 _Reader discretion is strongly advised._

 _Missing this section will not_ _drastically_ _affect your ability to follow this story._

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Alexis had surprised Redd with her call to the cruise ship from the planet below. "You're here? How did you get here?" He was happy to hear from her but hadn't expected to see her again until his shift changed. "Where are you?" He was off shift for the next 12 hours and needed to figure out how to get down to the planet.

"In a bar at the spaceport, waiting for you." Alexis was sure her blush was starting since she knew what this trip meant for them both.

Redd had to think fast. "Give me an hour. I'll be there somehow." He quickly hung up the phone and started rummaging through his meager belongings for something to wear along with his swim trunks. They might not need them on his planet, but he did here.

With the captain's blessing, he was just exiting one of the shuttles used for the passengers and entered the spaceport. "She said a bar." He started looking around. The problem was that there was more than one bar and some of those were actually restaurants that served drinks. He was walking slowly with his head on a swivel when suddenly he was hit from behind and found arms wrapped around him.

"Gotcha!" Alexis had seen him first.

"Alexis!" He turned in place and leaned in to kiss her soundly. On his planet this kiss might be tame, but here he needed to stop. "You can explain how later. I'm wearing my swimsuit under all this." Actually this place was almost always temperate so he was in shorts and a sheer top.

"Me too, where's the beach?" Alexis wanted to hit the beach with him first.

"Let's find out." Redd took her hand and started walking.

"You don't know?" She'd thought that he'd come here a lot given the ship always stopped here.

"I never had a reason to come down here before. I always stayed on the ship," Redd replied. That had Alexis smiling since it told her that he didn't have a girl here.

They were still talking and stealing kisses when they reached the beach. Alexis could feel his eyes on her as she stripped off what little she was wearing to expose the bikini she had on.

Alexis returned the look as Redd took off his clothes. Then hand in hand they ran for the water. Some easy swimming and paddling around had turned into them holding onto each other and kissing each other until they were breathless.

"I bought you something and brought it with me just in case," he told her, not really believing that he had actually brought it.

Alexis smiled into his kiss. "Me, too." She couldn't believe that she was doing this. "Can we find someplace? Someplace private?"

Her request had him smiling and kissing her again. "You're reading my mind," Redd murmured.

Alexis hated the place he took them to. "Someplace better. I'll pay half if you pay the other half," she offered. He nodded and soon they were in a much better room.

Redd took the lead since he really wanted her and was kissing her while working at removing her clothes. When he finally had her naked, he stepped back. "I was right, you're gorgeous." Alexis smiled as she remembered what Kim had told her. He didn't have body issues like she did.

Then she took over and started stripping him until he was naked. Since he wasn't yet wearing a cock ring he was basically normal in size. However, that wasn't what she was there for. She began licking and stroking his cock. She could feel his hands on her head holding her in place. It was just that he was quiet and she didn't know if what she was doing was being enjoyed by him. At least he had an erection. Finally he started groaning and that alone had her worried that he was going to come too soon, so she stopped. "Don't move." She got up off her knees and searched her bag.

When she came back she showed him the cock ring that she had brought with her. "I knew there was a reason why I liked you," he purred. He hadn't brought one and after she had called he had kicked himself for his stupidity.

Alexis went back to licking and even did her best to take him down her throat. She waited until she heard him groan again. Then she did what the salesman in the store showed her. She had practiced in the store a little and found that the ring was really elastic. She used her fingers to stretch it as wide as she could and lowered it down over his shaft. Then she worked at getting it past his balls. Now came the hard part. How to release and not let it snap closed and hurt him. Like a human's, his balls were sensitive and she could easily hurt him.

In the end the snap had been minor and she was amazed as instantly his cock and balls grew to a huge size. He easily rivaled Bradley in size. He was at least two feet long and she quickly wrapped the fingers of both her hands around it. Now she could do what she had been dreaming about but wasn't willing to admit to Kim. She loved the look of his monster cock and her little white hands stroking it as she licked the top.

She had given human men a blowjob but this was different. She couldn't fit even his head inside her mouth. He, like Bradley, was just too big for her. Still she enjoyed seeing her hands all over his massive cock. It wasn't until he suddenly groaned loudly that gave her a clue and quickly moved her mouth over the tip and felt him climax into her mouth. This time she swirled it around in her mouth to taste him. She was amazed at his taste. It had her licking his cock clean to get every last drop. He had a very slight metallic taste and yet the major taste had a taste of beef. The human come she had tasted had been a little to a lot salty. She liked the taste of his come much more.

"You're amazing." Redd knelt down to kiss her and search her mouth with his tongue. "I got you something, too. Hopefully you'll like it." He knew his planet's technology didn't end at helping men. They had one for women as well.

Alexis found herself on her back on the bed and had spread her legs wide, thinking that he was going to eat her pussy. But then he went over to his shorts and came back with two objects. "What's that?" It looked a little familiar but she wasn't sure.

"This is a clit ring. It works a lot like the cock ring I'm still wearing. The trick is getting it to fit."

Alexis didn't see how that was going to work. Her clit was tiny and hidden behind her hood. "That's not…" She stopped talking when she saw something else in his other hand. "What the heck is that?"

"This? This is a clit pump. The idea is to use the pump to draw the clit out and then slip the ring over both," he explained, then warned, "This is going to be intense."

Alexis wasn't sure about it but was willing to see what it would do. She watched every move he made. Suddenly there was a suction action and the pressure on her clit was like nothing she had ever experienced. It had her crying out, but not in pain…yet.

"Okay?" Redd had never done this with a human before.

"Yeah, just really sensitive. It's actually starting to be pleasurable." Alexis was amazed. She had never considered using toys like his people did.

"Okay, now for the hard part. This might not work or it might take several tries." Redd could see her clit and it was exposed out from under her hood. Though it was still tiny looking.

He used his fingers to spread the small clit ring wide, held onto the pump, and slipped it over the end of the pump, trying to press down into her body. Then he let go of the ring and pulled the pump off. Redd saw the results instantly but he also heard Alexis scream. But he also saw her nether lips pulsate several times. "Does it hurt?" It was his greatest fear of using a clit ring on a human.

Alexis shook her head and started calming down. "I climaxed." It had hit her hard and was very intense. Then she tilted her head down to look. "OH-MY-GOD!" Her clit was huge. Not just large; it was huge. It was easily as big as his thumb. She reached down to actually touch it and sucked in a breath as just that tiny touch was extremely intense and pleasurable. "Oh my god!"

Redd leaned down and gave her engorged clit a nice long lick from base to tip. His result was hearing Alexis scream and start thrashing around on the bed. Her orgasm crashed over her yet again without warning. Another long lick had her screaming out yet another orgasm.

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Alexis was lying there on her back with Redd resting next to her. They were both still wearing their rings. Alexis lifted up her head to look at her enlarged clit and then over at his massive cock. She started chuckling. This shouldn't be possible.

"Something funny?" Redd didn't get it and worried that she was insulting him.

"No, not funny. Interesting. It's just that this isn't possible on my planet. I think there are cock rings, but they don't do this." Alexis reached out to try and wrap her hands around his huge cock yet again.

"Are you starting something?" Redd questioned.

She began smiling. "Can you lick me, get me wet, then fuck me? I want your enormous cock inside me." She almost couldn't believe she was asking this. She'd never been this actively involved in asking for what she wanted before.

"Gladly!" Redd was in. "You know that it's possible for you to fuck either me or another woman. Your clit is now big enough."

That had Alexis turning to look at him like he had lost his mind. "Fuck you with my clit?" She hadn't even thought that.

"It **is** possible, however, your clit's really sensitive so it might not work. Maybe next time I could bring a desensitize spray for you." His planet had lots of things.

"You can…" Alexis couldn't believe it. "Maybe another time." She needed to think about that.

Redd's hopes began to soar. "So does that mean there will be a next time?"

Alexis just knew her blush had gone up her neck and now covered her face in an instant. "Maybe… Yes!" Alexis reached out to kiss him quickly.

What Redd knew and yet had to tell Alexis was that on his planet, having a human lover or even better a human wife or husband, was considered to be a coup. His standing on his planet if he had Alexis and did everything he could to keep her would help him. Both socially and professionally.

He just wasn't sure how she was going to take it.


	23. Chapter 23

**One**

 **Chapter 23**

They'd been in Montreal for a month and Kate was starting to go stir crazy. At least Rick had gone out and bought her more books to read. He'd also bought a DVD player along with a selection of movies. He'd even made every Wednesday movie night. It was just that she was trapped indoors and it was finally getting to her. She had gotten a little stronger and could easily make it from the bedroom to the living room without difficulty.

The one downside was that it had started getting colder and the complex had closed the pool. Sadly she wasn't strong enough to start using the equipment room downstairs.

"Castle!" Kate had made up her mind and left the bedroom to try and find him. "AAHHH!" She ducked just as something flew past her head. "Castle, what **was** that?" She saw him sitting in a chair with something in his hands.

"It's the latest in remote control helicopters. Isn't it cool!" Rick loved it.

Kate watched him fly it all around the room. He even started talking about having to make some kind of emergency transport. "No, no, no, no!" Rick turned his hands like that would make it turn faster. However, it wasn't fast enough. She saw it hit the wall and crash to the floor where a piece flew off and went flying on its own. He threw the remote onto the sofa and looked dejected. His toy was broken.

"Since you're done now, can we go somewhere?" Kate wanted out before she lost her mind.

"GO?!" Rick definitely wasn't onboard with the idea. "There's a 2 million dollar hit out on you, Kate." He thought she should stay safely indoors.

"I have a disguise." She gestured at her hair and her sallow skin. "And I'm wearing some of the worst clothes I've ever worn." She motioned at what she was wearing.

Rick huffed then defended his clothing choices. "No one will recognize you."

"Precisely. No one will notice me, and besides, we're in Montreal, not New York. Please, Castle. I'm going crazy in this place. I just want to go out and look around a little." She decided on making a threat. "I'm going nuts and I'm going to take you with me."

It was only then that Rick realized that he had talked himself into this trap. He needed to think fast. Problem he wasn't coming up with anything. He thought up a condition. "You don't leave the car."

Kate countered with her own condition. "Unless we pass a coffee shop." That had Rick looking at his watch. Her next heroin powder was not for another 12 hours. The directions told him not to give her anything to eat or drink 6 hours prior to taking the powder.

"Only if it's within the next 6 hours." Rick knew he was going to lose this fight and he did want to make her happy.

"YES! Let's go. I'll find a jacket." It wasn't cold but it was cool outside. She was still terribly thin – almost skin and bones – and got cold easily.

Rick holstered his weapon behind his back on his waistband and pocketed one of the burner phones just in case.

Kate found him sitting on the sofa with his laptop in his lap. "Let's go, Castle." Her temper was pretty short and she was mightily annoyed that he was writing after agreeing to go out for a ride and look around.

"I'm trying to find places for us to go see, not just drive around aimlessly until we get totally lost," Rick answered, writing down addresses.

Abashed, she felt badly about what she'd assumed he was doing. "I'm sorry," Kate said softly and sat down to wait.

"I've got three places and we have just under twelve hours until your next powder." Rick closed his laptop, stood, and offered his hand to help her up.

Kate was actually excited as they exited the underground parking lot onto the street that she had yet to ever see. She had watched Rick put in his first address.

He turned left and they went across the front of their building, then Kate saw the hospital on the right that was just up the road. She could see part of the park that was behind them that Castle had said was full of walking trails. She knew she wasn't ready for those but it sounded nice.

There were more apartment buildings followed by another smaller park on the left. "IHSP?" Kate saw the sign and the building but didn't know what it stood for. It had Rick wishing he still had his phone since he could look it up. But all he had were the simple burner phones.

"We'll look it up when we get home." It was the best he could do.

Kate pointed to their left at what looked like another little park. A small sign that she barely caught said. Rue Peel Steps. One more thing for them to look up.

Then a big reservoir showed up on their right. After that was the Université Mcgill Pavillon D'anatomie Et De Medecine Dentair Strathcona. "Castle?" Kate was interested so Rick pulled into the parking lot and found a place to park. The building was stone and the roof looked like copper since it was mostly green. "It's a school. Anatomy and Dentistry." Rick found a brochure that Kate took from him and started to try and read. Unfortunately it was all in French.

An old hotel caught Kate's attention as they turned right, moving away from it. Enough that she twisted to look out the back of the car. Another hotel and various buildings that she wasn't interested in. "Thai food." She pointed to her left as Rick went right past it. Only she still wasn't on totally solid food yet. Though her bowel movements were starting to look better.

"Ballet!" Kate pointed to her right. "Maybe our little girl will want to learn ballet," she suddenly announced, not realizing what she had said.

Rick had heard it loud and clear. "OUR little girl?"

"Well…maybe." Kate finally noticed what she had said. "I mean it's possible, maybe." If Bracken didn't kill them both.

He continued to drive with a big smile on his face. The mere fact that Kate was thinking of their future together made him more than happy.

"Hôpital Notre-Dame," Kate pointed out as they passed it by.

She read the sign. "Le Centre Commercial Maisonneuve. Shopping mall?" Kate guessed since it looked like one.

"Collège de Maisonneuve." It was obviously a college but for what?

"Where are we going, Castle?" How far away was this place, any how? It felt like it was taking forever even if they'd only been driving for 25 minutes.

"There." Rick pointed to his right after turning left.

What Kate saw was another park. "So what's so special about this park?" They had one right behind them, after all.

Rick, however, was silent as he turned right. Kate just kept watching until she saw a sign and he turned, going right past it.

 **Montréal Botanical Garden**

Kate turned to look at him with awe in her eyes. He was taking her to a botanical garden! It might be a little cool for her outside but she had high hopes for this place.

"OH MY GOD, CASTLE!" Kate saw color everywhere. The trees there were starting to turn colors and there were brilliant reds, oranges and yellows everywhere. Kate forgot about the $20.50 per adult price it had taken to get in.

She was beginning to tire and didn't want to leave yet so she grabbed hold of Castle's arm to help her keep moving. But Rick's watch started beeping. "We need to find some water and a cup." He started looking around.

They ended up at a coffee vendor who gave them a paper coffee cup of plain water that allowed Rick to mix up one of her powders. "Which one is this?" Kate knew it wasn't the one for her heroin. That one came late in the day.

"We have 6 hours before your cream. This one's for your infection. I also brought the one for pain just in case." He smiled. Kate reached up to kiss him quickly.

"You're too good for me." She still thought she deserved someone a lot less special.

"I'm the one that feels lucky. You're amazing, Kate." Rick leaned in and kissed her thoroughly.

Then they found the greenhouse. They had a nice simple stroll through it and marveled at the different species of plants – some that were even flowering – and at the gorgeous waterfall.

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Kate had thanked him profusely for the trip and had fallen asleep on the ride home. She was sleeping so deeply that it gave Rick a chance to stop at a drug store on the way to pick up a few items.

He hated to do it but he decided to wake her after parking the car. He would carry her and was more than willing to do it. But he knew Kate would hate it. "We're home." Rick watched as she slowly blinked her eyes open.

"Sorry." She hadn't meant to zonk out on him.

"Nothing to be sorry for. That was the most exercise you've had since we got here." It had been partly his fault and he knew it. It was just that he didn't want her over doing it like she always did.

"Yeah." Kate was dejected, sad that she couldn't even walk through a garden without tiring. She used to be able to run for blocks and do it in her heels.

Rick took her straight to the bedroom and put his bag down. "You stopped somewhere?" She didn't remember that part.

"Only for a couple of minutes. I got you a few things." He was quite proud of himself. He showed her the first two items. "We can use this to cover your chest and the tape to hold it in place. I thought you might like to take a shower. …I'll help." Rick grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows. It got Kate to chuckle. A shower **WITH** Castle sounded like a good thing. She just hoped she could stomach seeing his cock, given what had happened to her before she'd been rescued.

"I also got you some shaving cream and a variety of razors. I could shave your legs after the shower and maybe even trim the forest you have growing down there." He'd seen everything and she had almost four months of growth.

"Um…." Shaving sounded like a great idea. Maybe she would feel more like her old self. But allowing Castle to trim her pubic hairs was another matter entirely.

"I promise not to cut you. Who do you think taught Alexis?" He **had** done this before. Granted it had only been once and it hadn't been something either of them wanted to repeat. It sure as hell hadn't been Meredith helping their daughter with it.

That had Kate opening her mouth and closing it as she thought about that. A single dad raising a daughter. Considering how Alexis had turned out told her a lot. Still she wasn't willing to say yes just yet. Then Rick's watch went off. "Time for your powder." He was up in an instant. "How's the pain?" This powder wasn't for that, though.

"I'm fine." She had a little pain but it wasn't physical pain.

"Kate?" Rick wanted to get past this part. He wanted to know.

His tone had Kate looking up at him. She told him the truth. "I…I'm going to want that heroin powder soon." She sighed. "And my calves hurt a little from all the walking, but it's nothing."

"I'll get the pain powder and the powder for your chest." Rick left her in the bedroom and came back a moment later holding two glasses. Kate downed the contents of both of them. "Let's get your legs lathered up so we can shave you." He wanted her to feel better and was hoping this would accomplish that.

"I can shave my own legs, Castle. I've been doing it for years." Kate held out her hands for the shaving cream and razors.

He'd learned when to fight and when not to and this was one of those times. "Yell if you need help. I'll be in the kitchen mixing up another batch of those seeds that you liked so much." She had licked the bowl clean and Rick wanted to see that happen again.

"That would be nice." Kate had really liked it.

She gingerly sat on the edge of the tub and was starting to apply the shaving cream on her legs. However, she almost fell backwards into the tub. Giving up on that, she got **in** the tub and applied the lather. She picked up one of the razor packages and worked at getting it open. She looked it over. She had used the simplest of razors in the past. What Rick had gotten her had more than one blade. "One was enough, Castle."

Kate started gliding it up her leg only to nick her shin. "OW!" She wanted to curse. She started again only to cut her ankle. "OUCH!"

Rick's voice rang out. "You alright in there?"

"Yes." She could do this. She reached out yet again and saw that her hand was really shaking. "Damn it!" Kate sat back and just tried to relax. "OW!" She almost threw the razor in disgust of it all.

"I'm coming in," Rick warned and saw her sitting in the tub totally naked, one leg covered in shaving cream. He also saw pain on her face. He was soon down on his knees and holding out his hand. "Razor." Rick looked at her and waited.

What she wanted to say was that she could do this. It was just shaving her legs, for god's sake. She'd been doing this for years. Reluctantly she handed him his fancy razor. Kate watched him stroke the razor up her leg, then rinse the razor off, doing it again and again. Soon one leg was mostly done. She watched him squirt shaving cream in his hand and apply it to her other leg. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She could almost feel his smile radiating off of him.

"A little. Wait until you see what comes next." He knew what was next was going to be her biggest challenge.

"Next?" _What did he mean by next? Oh, no_ _! H_ _e wasn't thinking_ _ **that**_ _,_ _was he_ _?_

Leaving her in the tub didn't put her in a position so that he could see what he was doing. He left her for a moment, though, and spread a towel over the side of their bed. He hurried back into the bathroom. "Up, Kate." Rick reached down to help lift her onto the bed.

Then he stepped back into the bathroom then returned with scissors, an electric trimmer, the shaving cream, and another razor. "Spread 'em wide, Kate." He got down on the floor in front of her.

"No way, Castle." He was **not** trimming her pubic hair!

"Nicking your legs is one thing, Kate, but I'm not letting you cut yourself there. So spread your legs and let me work or I'll force them open." He wasn't taking no for an answer this time.

She shook her head stubbornly. She so didn't want him to do this. "Afraid I'll see something I haven't already?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You said you closed your eyes that time." Kate meant when he showed up after her apartment had blown up.

"I lied," he finally admitted. "Do you want to feel better or not?"

She grudgingly admitted to herself that she did want to feel better. Enough that they could have sex. Enough that she could love him like he deserved. She wanted a lot of things. "GOD!" Kate fell back onto the bed and slowly spread her legs like he'd told her to. She soon felt Rick's hands and the razor. His hands were so soft and gentle. "Castle?" His hand or finger had just brushed across her clit.

"Almost done." Kate was starting to notice that she was feeling things down there that she hadn't for a while. And it wasn't because he was spreading her lips or gently brushing her clit.

"Hurry up, Castle." If he didn't hurry, she was going to grab his head, press it against her core, and will him to start licking. "Castle!" Just one more touch was all it was going to take.

"Done!" He spread his hands wide and sat back to look over his work. He liked it. It was perfect. "Let me get you a mirror." He really wanted her to see his handiwork.

Rick came back, handed her a little mirror, and waited for her to look. Kate sat up and angled the mirror so she could see. What she saw shocked her. Her core was completely bare and yet she still had a little pubic hair just above her clit. "Oh, Castle." She was ready to cry. He had shaped the hair into a heart. It was tiny, she gave it that. "It's perfect." Kate looked up at him and wished for a lot of things. She looked again and moved the mirror around so she could see everything.

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Kim swam over to the edge after seeing a flash. Alexis was back from her date. "How did it go?" The beautiful redhead was shuffling her feet over to the edge of the pool and saw Kim laugh at her. "Never mind. It obviously went great. Go strip and hop in." Kim pushed off and went out into the pool.

"I'm in so much trouble." Alexis was sure of it.

"You **did** get something from one of their sex shops like I told you, didn't you?" Kim was hoping she didn't mean she knew she was going to get pregnant.

"Of course I did." Alexis knew what she meant. "I can't wait to get my hands on his cock again. I'm in so much trouble."

Kim moved over to hug her. "You're talking about your PW again, aren't you." She thought she understood and felt Alexis nod her head.

"May I ask a question?" Alexis asked her softly and felt her let go of her.

"Of course, ask away." Kim floated back a bit and waited.

Alexis needed to set up her question. "Out on the street when we first met, you had just gotten here. When I thought you were Kate."

"Yes." So far she had everything right.

"You felt…cold. I attributed it to your having amnesia, but that wasn't it, was it? You've changed." Alexis had felt it.

Kim couldn't help but smile as she teased Alexis. "So you're saying that I was a cold fish."

Alexis noticed, though, and splashed Kim for razzing her.

The otherworlder had feared this time would come. "Yeah." Kim played with the water. "I made a choice when I started to hunt down my clones. I was going to kill them. To do that I needed to compartmentalize it all. They were just clones and not people. I don't just kill people. It was working perfectly until your Kate and you came along. I've killed before, but all in the line of duty. I had never hunted people down with the intent of killing them." Kim wasn't sure she could kill the last of her clones now. So much had changed.

"Sorry." Alexis was sure it was her fault.

"Don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry." Kim swam back over to her and took her hands. "You turned me back into…me. Who I used to be before all this. It makes me want to finish so I can get back to work and start living my life again. Not spend it hunting down clones." She truly did want to be done.

Alexis hugged her. It didn't matter that Kim was wet, Alexis was soaking wet from her first hug anyway. Kim had become a really good friend of late. "I have another question." Alexis had a few of them actually.

Kim patiently waited. "We're using these Vortex Manipulators to find your clones. But you said there were only the two of these. How did your clones end up back in time?" Alexis didn't understand.

"I don't know. I haven't found that out yet. To be honest I've been more focused on finding my clones than how they got there." Kim suddenly became concerned. Had she blinded herself to other things?

"So either there are more than two of them, or they have something else. A real time machine." Alexis had no idea what it would look like.

It made sense to Kim. "Another question?" Alexis still had a few and it had Kim chuckling.

"To do what we do must use energy. How are these things powered?" Alexis held up her arm that had Jack on it.

"Jack?" Kim knew the answer and thought having him explain would help.

" _I utilize a_ _q_ _uantum_ _s_ _ingularity as my primary power source."_

Alexis repeated it. "A quantum singularity. You mean like in _Star Trek?_ A Romulan Warbird?" Alexis used movies or TV shows a lot to help her understand.

" _This is a_ _q_ _uantum_ _s_ _ingularity."_ What Jack showed her was a 3D rendition of his singularity.

Alexis yelped, "That's a black hole! Oh, god, I have a black hole attached to my arm!" She was starting to panic a bit, wondering how to get it off.

Jack didn't see the problem. _"It is perfectly safe_ _, Miss Alexis_ _."_

"Black holes are **not** safe! Nothing escapes them, not even light." Alexis began to question if this was such a good idea after all.

"51st century," Kim reminded her as Alexis looked at her and started to laugh nervously.

"A black hole's on my arm. Do I want to know what's on my back to power that weapon?" Alexis queried. Kim shook her head.

"You think that's something? You should see the power source for the weapon that's under the pool," Kim commented since it had cost her more than the moon had.

"You have a weapon under the pool?" Just how big was this weapon?

"Come on, I'll show you. There are a number of access tunnels for maintenance." Kim began getting out of the pool.

"Is this going to look like the power source in _Fantastic Planet?"_ Alexis inquired, thinking that this just might be really cool. "Is Jack's black hole going to interfere with it?"

That had Kim laughing hard, not that she knew what Alexis was talking about. "Just a little farther. Since I'm not trying to charge the weapon it'll be safe to enter." She tried to describe it. "There are actually a series of generators that send their power to a chain of capacitors that store the energy before it is discharged. Okay, through this door." Kim unlocked it and pulled it open, allowing Alexis to look inside.

"I don't see much." Actually all she saw was a large round room that looked to have a glass floor. In a circle above the outer circle were cones projecting down.

"Jill, give me a nanosecond of power activation and then shut it down." Kim thought that would be safe enough and would allow Alexis to see what it did.

Alexis saw a flash of what looked like lightning come out of the cones and strike the floor. It happened so fast that she wasn't sure. She also felt her skin tingling and it had her rubbing her arms.

"That's the power that you're feeling. If it had lasted much longer you would be burned," Kim advised her.

"I think I see, but how do you create the power to send it to the floor?" Power didn't come from nothing.

"You mean the initial charge." Kim understood now. "Sunlight, naturally, which is stored in another set of capacitors if sunlight isn't available." Kim closed the door.

That didn't make sense to Alexis. "I don't remember seeing any solar panels." Her roof was nothing but thatch. Then Alexis saw Kim's perplexed face. "You don't use solar panels in the 51st century, do you?" She watched as Kim shook her head again.

Alexis leaned up against the wall. "I can't even get into one of your colleges, can I?" What was she going to do now? She was from the 21st century and couldn't even pass the most basic history test in the 51st.


	24. Chapter 24

**One**

 **Chapter 24**

Alexis was nervous. Kim had taken what she had said to heart and had disappeared almost instantly, leaving her down below the pool next to the power source. She returned a moment later. "Here, read these over and talk with Jack. I've already got you an appointment to speak with one of their counselors. It might be good fit for you, if you decide you want to leave Earth and the 21st century," Kim said and started walking toward the closest access back up to the pool.

Kim was back in the pool while Alexis had chosen to sit in one of the chairs and read what her mentor had given her. She wanted clarification. "Jack, this one. Does it say what I think it does?"

" _Jill tells me that you are aware of the planet that uses only green energy and has never developed the use of fossil fuels."_

"Yes," Alexis answered. She still didn't see how that helped.

" _They export a great deal of their knowledge in the form of work crews,"_ Jack explained patiently. _"They go to other planets that hire them to set up a green energy system."_

"I know all that, but this talks about wanting a medical team." A 51st century medical team, though.

He made it simpler for her to understand. _"Some_ _,_ _though not all of the planets that hire them_ _,_ _are basic in their technology. A planet will send out a colony ship and then hire them to set up all of their power needs. They provide medical services for their engineers and workers. In this case that includes working with dead bodies to determine what killed them."_

Alexis's eyes opened wide. "Like Lanie!" Alexis had enjoyed her time with Lanie. She had learned a lot from her. In addition, seeing dead bodies and blood and what Lanie did to those bodies hadn't fazed her in the least.

"KIM!" Alexis had a plan and waited for her to join her. "This one." Alexis held up the brochure for her to read.

After reading the brochure, Kim said, "I told you you would like these people. What they provide is in great demand. I didn't know you knew anything about energy creation." Kim was really impressed with her if she did.

Alexis corrected her. "I don't and I don't mean that. Jack says they send medical teams as part of the contract. That includes sending an M.E. to examine dead bodies. I did that with Lanie. The dark-skinned Hispanic-looking woman that you saw at my dad's house."

"Well a dead body is a dead body," Kim remarked then noted some of the issues she and Alexis might have to deal with. "They are likely going to want to know your history and past experience as well as requiring a letter of recommendation. Though your limited schooling might be an issue."

"School." Alexis hung her head then perked up. "But I'm a time traveler."

That had Kim pulling a chair over to sit close to her. "College in the 21st century is what, four years? During that time you'll be dating your boyfriend in the 51st century. Who is a pilot of a cruise ship."

Suddenly Alexis's idea was going up in smoke. "Long distance relationship." She had never heard of one of those working out before.

"In time and space, yes." Kim saw a problem as well. "Let's go find out what they want of you first. Though maybe a visit with this Lanie person of yours to get a letter of recommendation might be helpful."

Alexis knew that she loved Kim a little more now. "You think they'll listen? And go for it?"

"There's only one way to find out. Let's get dressed and go see your doctor friend." Kim stood up and waited for Alexis.

A few minutes later they arrived in a flash of light. "I'll be right behind you." Kim said as she pressed a series of panels and became invisible, vanishing from sight. She found navigating behind Alexis down New York city streets and not bumping into people a challenge. She had brushed against one or two already. Though each had just continued on their way.

Inside the building was far easier and she followed Alexis downstairs and through a pair of doors.

"Lanie!" Alexis was happy to see her.

"Alexis!" Lanie dropped what she was doing, met her halfway, and gave her a bone-crushing hug. "Oh sweetie, it's **so** good to see you. How are you holding up?" Lanie was full of questions.

"Pretty good. I've seen my dad and Kate a couple of times. Dad seems to be keeping up pretty well." Alexis was happy for that.

"Thank god. I love Castle, but your father's attention span…" Lanie hated speaking ill of him, but he could really be a challenge sometimes.

Alexis smiled, knowing just what Lanie meant. "I have an idea and I need your help. Hear me out before you go ballistic." Alexis was desperate for her help.

Lanie listened to everything and hadn't interrupted. "What about school? I'm more than happy to give you a letter of recommendation. It'll be full of glowing remarks. But I thought you wanted to finish college first. And have you spoken with your dad about this?" Lanie wasn't going to get in-between those two.

"Dad's next after I find out what they need. That and I need to talk with someone else first." Alexis had no idea how Redd was going to take this.

Lanie stared at Alexis and guessed. "You have a boyfriend?" She waited for a response from Alexis before erupting like a volcano in impatience.

"Well we've dated a couple of times, so I suppose you could…" Alexis didn't make it any further since Lanie was squealing in her ear while giving her another bone-crushing hug. "What's he do? Tell me everything." Lanie would make it a condition of getting that letter if she had to.

"Um…his name is Jebadiah Redd. I just call him Red all the time. He's cute…he's bald, he's fun, nice, considerate. I like him. OH, and he's a pilot. He wants to be a captain one day." They had done a lot of talking after having sex.

"Military?" Lanie questioned and watched as Alexis shook her head.

"Cruise ship." It was a space ship cruise ship but Lanie didn't need to know that.

"That sounds nice. Cruising around from place to place and living on it. Might be fun. But how does that fit in with what you're asking." Was she giving up on her boyfriend?

"I haven't worked all that out yet. First I need to find out what they need of me. How many references do I need? How much education do I need? How badly do they need someone? Do they need someone with more experience? After that I'll talk with Red about it."

"Why don't you give me a few minutes and I'll get to writing." Lanie was going to do it now.

"Great! I can go talk with Javi in the mean time." She might as well talk with him while she was here and began to leave.

"NO! I mean if Gates sees you…" Lanie frowned. "This precinct isn't the same without Roy. Captain Gates is a hard-nosed, by the book type of person. You even have to call her sir or captain." She had learned to dislike her almost as much as the boys had. "Let me call him and see if he can come down." It was safer here.

Kim moved in behind Alexis and whispered in her ear. "She's a good friend and she's good for you."

"Lanie is one of the best. Maybe she can talk the Chief Medical Examiner into letting me intern here again before I ask about the job." She could spend time in the morgue and still help Kim find her clones.

"I was right, you **are** smart." Kim was still impressed. She had caught on fast to what having all of time and space could do for you.

"Maybe instead of your next clone we could search for that time machine. What's to say that they don't have other samples of your DNA and are creating more clones already or will be? We really need to find out **why you**." Alexis had every intention of helping her.

Alexis felt Kim kiss the back of her head as Lanie walked toward her. "Javi will be down in a minute. This body is actually one of his cases so it gives him an excuse," Lanie said. Then she had a thought. "How long can you stay? You can help me, provided Gates doesn't catch us." She practically never came down there anyway so it was probably safe.

Alexis smiled. "I'd love to, just let me talk with someone first." Kim didn't need to stay for this.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis was smiling broadly as she left the precinct building with Lanie's letter of recommendation in hand. Her time spent assisting her with Javi's body for his case only helped her reinforce that this was a good idea. Plus she knew that if she needed help that would be mostly just information, she could obtain it using Jack.

She was so happy that she didn't notice that she was being tailed. Alexis turned a corner and pressed a series of panels. Satisfied with the result she pressed another series of panels and vanished in a flash of light.

The man tailing her saw the flash and began running since he didn't know what it meant. All he found was an empty area and him not understanding what had happened.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"I got it!" Alexis was ecstatic about the implications. "Though what do I do if they want more education?" She knew her education was limited and stuck in the 21st century.

"Sit down and eat something. Then we can go ask and find out what they want."

Alexis was eating when a thought hit her. "I can go forward in time, right? I can go forward in time and see how Dad and Kate are doing." She would put Jack and the Vortex Manipulator to use.

"Try not to interfere with events. Time is a finicky thing. Those points in time that I already can't reach get generated a little too easily if you're not careful," Kim cautioned.

"So I don't talk to anyone. Not even Dad or Kate. I just look." Alexis didn't see the harm in that.

"Just be certain that you don't. You could create an event that's meant to happen no matter how badly you want to change it." Kim had already encountered her fair share of those. "Want some company?" Maybe she should go with her.

"Not if I don't plan on talking to them." Alexis thought she could do it alone. She had gone to see both of them alone before. This time shouldn't be any different.

"Be careful," Kim warned her just before Alexis touched a series of panels. She disappeared in a flash and then arrived in a flash. She was alone in the stairwell. Opening the door she walked down the hallway toward their apartment. Except when she got there she found the door covered in caution tape that also said **POLICE**.

"What!" Alexis stood there in front of the door. What she wanted to do was ignore the tape and go inside. It was just that she had promised not to talk to them or get into trouble.

"Jack?" She needed his help.

" _Scanning."_ It was terrible news, something that Jack hated to have to tell her. _"I find… I_ _a_ _m sorry_ _,_ _Miss Alexis. The amount of_ _blood with their_ _DNA_ _that_ _I_ _am_ _find_ _ing_ _inside suggests that both of them have bled out. It has yet to have been cleaned up. However_ _,_ _neither of their bodies are located here."_

"What!" Alexis felt her legs go weak; she blindly reached out for something, anything. But all she grabbed was tape that ripped off the door as her body slumped. She couldn't find her breath. "Dead? They can't be. No, it's not possible." She stared at the door and wanted to shoot it down so she could go inside. "I…DADDY?" Her tears begin to well up.

"NO!" She had to fix this. She didn't even think and pressed a series of panels and vanished in a flash of light.

"KIM!" She needed help. "They're dead! They're both…dead." Alexis fell into Kim's arms.

This was not the news Kim was expecting. She held onto Alexis. "Jack, explain." He was more logical than Alexis was at the moment.

" _My calculations on_ _the_ _volume of blood_ _that I scanned_ _led me to the conclusion that_ _both were killed. Shot with primitive weapons and left to bleed out. Their bodies have been collected_ _, though_ _all of the blood_ _remains_ _."_

"How long?" Kim needed a time frame.

" _Based on decay I would say approximately two days ago. Meaning four months, twenty days_ _,_ _and three hours from the last time Miss Alexis checked on them."_

"What do I do?" Alexis needed Kim to help her.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." Kim let go of her and pressed a series of panels. A moment later she returned in a flash of light. Now she had to figure out just what to tell her.

"The manager of the apartment complex found them after receiving a number of complaints." Kim didn't want to say the smell of decay. "He identified the bodies and the police are investigating." She hated telling her but Alexis needed the truth.

"NO! They can't die." She would be left alone. "Do something," she begged. "We can go back in time and warn them. Send them somewhere else. PLEASE!" Kim needed to do something.

"I thought you might ask that." Kim was prepared for that and she produced what she had gotten. "New ID cards including…you call them passports." Kim had had to rely on Jill for those. "New names and a new credit card. I…may have filled it with money that doesn't actually exist." Actually Jill had done it. It was hundreds and hundreds of thousands of US dollars. "As well as travel tickets to another city." She handed it all over to Alexis.

Alexis was ready to cry just for a different reason. She placed both of her hands over her mouth for a moment and then launched herself at Kim. "Thank you!"

"I'm going with you this time," Kim informed her. "Yes, I know what it means. Let's just get this over with." It meant showing herself to Kate and her dad.

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It was a month before their deaths as far as Jack could determine. Alexis looked at Kim, still not sure she could believe that she had come with her. Not that long ago she had been more than willing to kill Kate. Now she was helping to save her life.

Alexis knocked, holding her breath, then saw the door open. "DAD!." Alexis leapt at him and hugged him for all she was worth. After all, he **had** been dead just moments ago. Quite unexpectedly, she found Kate sitting at the counter eating. "Hi, Kate."

Rick was so surprised that he hadn't noticed Kim walk past him. Kim, however, did notice that Kate had seen her who had stopped eating and was staring at her in shock.

Alexis looked between the two of them. "Close the door, Dad. Kate, this is Kim. Kim, this is your…Kate." She almost said clone. Kate was still staring at her double.

"What's going on, Alexis?" This time Rick was going to get answers.

Kim stepped forward. "Hello, Mr. Castle. Alexis has told me a lot about you. She loves you more than I can say." Kim held out her hand and shook his shocked hand as he stared at her.

"Alexis." Kim wanted to get this over with. She still felt the urge to kill her clone. There should only be one of her.

"Right." Alexis needed to steady herself. "They know where you are. I don't know how, but they **will** be coming very soon." She took a deep breath and dropped her bomb. "He's going to kill both of you." What she got back was a lot of silence as they both took in that revelation.

"We've got new IDs for both of you. New passports under your new names. A credit card with an enormous positive balance for you to use with your new name. Also two plane tickets to a new city. You fly out tomorrow. Oh, and I got this. This one's for you, Dad." Alexis handed over a shopping bag.

Kate was more awake than Rick was and actually took what Alexis handed out. Curious, she opened each passport to look at the new names. She was stunned to find that they both had the same last name.

"Alexis, how do you know so much?" Rick wanted answers this time.

"That would be my doing, Mr. Castle," Kim told them and looked at both of them. "No, I'm not your long lost twin sister. My name is Kimberly MacKenzie. I'm a security expert who has access to a lot of information. Alexis convinced me to help you." _**Instead of killing you**_ _,_ she thought.

"I've also brought a new round of powders for you. You are no doubt running low on what you have." She had also made another trip that she hadn't told Alexis about yet.

"In addition we've got a new place for you to live. Hopefully you'll like it." Alexis handed this to her dad who was still looking at the two of them, absolutely dumbfounded. Alexis had approved of the location and had questioned Kim about just where she got the money.

Jill had answered for Kim. _"That would be me_ _,_ _Alexis."_

"We should go." Kim turned to the door. The longer she stayed here, the more she wanted to kill Kate and the more damage they did to the timeline.

"You need to pack; your flight leaves tomorrow at noon. If you don't leave, you're both dead," Alexis warned them again.

Rick stopped his daughter, still filled with questions. The Alexis he knew didn't do things like this. He glanced at Kim. "You trust her? Really trust her?" He meant Kim.

"With **all** of our lives, Dad. You need to pack and go to the airport tomorrow. I'll catch up to you later." She knew exactly where they were both going.

"With a little luck, maybe I'll be there for Thanksgiving." It wasn't all that far away. "I just wish Grams could be there." They still had to keep everyone else in the dark. It also brought up another topic she needed to discuss with Kim: what to do for her grandmother who was living all alone in the loft now.

Rick looked between Alexis and Kim. He was learning that answers were going to be hard to come by. "Please take good care of her. She means the world to me."

"I won't let anything happen to her. I promise." They needed to depart; they still had an appointment about a job to get to.

Rick and Kate watch them go, leaving them with questions and few answers.

"Castle, we're Canadians." Kate had just noticed that the passports were Canadian and hadn't been issued by the United States.

Rick took it from her and examined it. "You're sure you don't have a twin sister?" It was one explanation for who Kim was. Except that Kate shook her head.

He took the paperwork and started reading. "We're going to Victoria." He was a little shocked. "It's the other side of the country." They were on the east coast and going to the west coast. Then he looked at just where they were going: 304-640 Montreal St., Victoria, British Columbia.


	25. Chapter 25

**One**

 **Chapter 25**

"Something's still bugging you." Kim couldn't help but notice that Alexis was doing, well, basically nothing. She took a guess at what it was. "Your dad and Kate. But they're alive, so relax a bit."

"Yeah, but they wouldn't be if I hadn't gone forward in time to look. He wants them both dead, Kim, and he has power." Not to mention access to killers.

"But you did." Kim rubbed her arm. "If it's about the money, Jill didn't steal from anyone. The money sort of didn't exist before and does now. It's untraceable."

Alexis shook her head. "No, not that. I don't understand what's so special that he has to kill for it." What could be worth killing for?

Kim sighed heavily, knowing this was a bad idea. But she went ahead anyway. "Let's find out." Alexis stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "We'll find him and ask him. I have a way of getting people to answer my questions. How do you think I found out about him in the first place?"

Alexis wasn't convinced. "Just ask him? Is it really that simple?"

"Pretty much," Kim confirmed. She knew that if he didn't answer the question she could shoot him full of drugs then ask him like she did the guy that had shot Kate. Simple.

"This may take a couple of jumps." They had to find him first. "But I want to talk about something with you first." Kim was ready to ask for help. She was quiet for a moment, considering what to say. "You were suggesting that the people who took me had a real working time machine. To move my clones around in time." Kim was terrible at this and she knew it.

"You want to find it?" Alexis guessed.

Kim shrugged. "What I really want to know is if **you** would be interested in helping me find it."

Alexis started smiling widely as Kim played with her hands and softly bounced from foot to foot. It was sweet. "I would love to. Where do we start? …Provided we ask why he is willing to kill people next."

"Deal!" Kim jumped at accepting her condition since she was planning on finding out why regardless. "I was thinking that they would need lots of power to make it work so we could start with that."

"Sure, any ideas on where to begin looking?" Alexis didn't have a clue.

"Just one, follow me." Kim took her over to her bank of video screens. "Jill's connected to these screens and so is Jack. Just start asking him questions and he can show you places that meet your request." She began walking away.

"Where are you going?" Alexis thought she was going to help her, not do it alone.

"Just a quick errand. I'll be back before you know I'm gone." Kim tried to hide her smile.

"OH, funny!" Alexis stuck her tongue out at her which had her laughing. Alexis was facing the screens when she saw a flash of light.

"Okay Jack, what are the primary methods of creating power in the 51st century?" Alexis was betting it wasn't hydro or nuclear.

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Kim arrived right where she wanted to be. She touched a series of panels and vanished. "Now, are you home or somewhere else at the moment?" She walked up to the front door and found it locked which lasted only a second, thanks to Jill.

Half an hour later she had found an empty house. "Maybe we need something to enforce our point." Kim had an idea and vanished in a flash of light only to return in another flash, carrying a bag with her. She went through the house yet again only this time she left items behind everywhere she went. "That should make a nice mess." She was happy with herself. In her mind she was helping Alexis who was now her very best friend.

"Since you're not here, let's try somewhere else." Time for the next place.

Scoping out the new place, she went down a street cloaked with her invisibility. The target building had a guard. She walked right past and used her contact lens to gaze into the building before moving on.

Kim found a quiet place. "Jill, let's find a spot for us to go to." Using Jill she replayed what she had seen but hadn't looked really hard at. A moment later she vanished in a flash of light and arrived in another flash of light. "Now let's take their security down. I don't want them seeing me even by accident." She pressed a series of panels and waited a moment for Jill to complete her work.

She didn't have a problem with all of the stairs. She easily made it up to her target floor and started searching for the right door. She found it unlocked and went through it to find a small room with a little desk that was empty. There was, however, another door that had a light shinning through the frosted glass. Someone was home!

Kim opened the door and slowly stepped through. "I told you you could go home, Barbara," a male voice called out, sounding a little annoyed. She decided to lower the invisibility and pressed a series of panels to change what it looked like she was dressed in. "My apologies, but I'm not Barbara."

Hearing that, he glanced up and the look of shock vanished almost as fast as it showed up. "Detective Beckett. How can I help one of New York's finest?" He put on one of his best fake smiles.

"You can tell me why you want me killed. You have a 2 million dollar hit out on me."

He kept himself calm and composed. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Detective. Perhaps you should go."

"The hard way it is, then." Kim was happy with that. "This won't hurt…much." She moved over to his desk, leaned and reached across, and pressed a device into his shoulder.

"OW!" Bracken clapped his hand over the spot. "What have you done?" He'd never expected this of her. His take on her was that she would always follow the law and never confront him even if she ever did find out.

"Now we wait." Kim knew it would take thirty minutes.

"You can wait with Security." Bracken picked up his phone but he didn't see Kim press a series of panels. He was shocked when his phone fell to pieces in his hand.

"Being interrupted is something I can't allow I'm afraid." She was there for answers.

Bracken stood firm in his denial. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but this action will cost you your job."

"Well since I've technically taken an extended leave of absence, it isn't really going to cost me anything. Besides you don't have any control over my job." There were 30 centuries of difference, after all. But I need time for the drug to work so I need for you to remain here, undisturbed." Kim came around his desk and in a few short moves had him on the floor and all tied up.

"This is going to cost you greatly." Bracken was going to see to it. "You have a family to consider."

Kim just smiled. "My mother, father, and my sisters are far beyond your reach. And to be honest, you're no match for any of them."

Then she pressed a series of panels and walked over to his hidden wall safe. "Let's see what he has, shall we, Jill?" Kim wondered if he would actually have something that would help.

"You'll never get it open." Bracken smiled knowingly; more than just a code was needed. He was stunned when a moment later, Beckett had it open and was pulling out all of the contents.

"What do we have here?" Kim pulled out one of those ancient drives that held data. "Scan this for me, Jill. I need you to make a copy and then wipe it clean."

Bracken wanted to yell, but if he did he would give away just how valuable the data was on that disk. He was even more taken aback at what he heard next. He also didn't understand who she was talking to. His first thought was that she was wearing a wire.

" _Both actions are complete_ _,_ _"_ Jill informed her.

Kim tossed the now useless thing back into the safe. "Now scan all of the papers for me and make a copy to be studied later."

" _Action complete."_

"You have illegally obtained all that information. None of that can be used in court." Bracken was mightily angry but still thought he was safe. It would take time to recover what he had already lost, though.

Kim found a lighter in one of his drawers and started burning all of the papers. Bracken simply sneered at her. Then he watched as she sat down in his chair and just looked at him.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis had just seen Kim leave and she was back a moment later. "That didn't take long." Alexis smiled at her and Kim laughed at her joke. "Did you find what you wanted?" Alexis inquired.

"I did and we need to talk later. Now let's get started on finding your time machine."

Alexis grinned. "Oh, good one." They used miniature time machines to get around with.

"So, Jack and I were just starting to try and figure out what it would take to power it. Maybe we can narrow down our search."

"Well since Jack and Jill use Quantum Singularities…" Kim thought that might be the place to start.

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Kate stretched, yawned, then apologized for sleeping through the entire flight. She was actually thankful that it was a non-stop flight. "We don't have a car." It was their first challenge as far as she was concerned.

"We can rent one for now or we can go straight to our new place and figure out what to do next. Maybe we don't need one. We haven't seen what they got us yet," Rick remarked, reaching up to scratch his head.

Kate pulled his hand back down. "Leave it alone, Cas…Dominic." She had to get used to using his new name.

"It itches, and Dominic, really? What was my daughter thinking?" He hated his new name and he hated the disguise his daughter had come up with for him. Besides Kate was the one with a contract out on her and not him.

"You're a spy and don't want to be recognized." Kate wasn't really taken with his silver hair, either. She still thought they had used too much color for his hair. She did have to admit that if she didn't know who he was, she wouldn't recognize him.

"A spy!" He could get onboard with that.

"Come on, spy-boy. Let's find a taxi. But can we mix up one of those powders first? My chest is killing me." She was blaming it on the bra that she was wearing and vowed to take it off first chance she got.

"Of course, but you should have told me." Rick didn't want her keeping it to herself and suffering.

"I **am** telling you." Kate didn't see the problem. She was sharing.

"How's the pain?" he asked quietly during the taxi ride.

"Almost gone. Where did Alexis get those powders?" Kate had never heard of them before. Shots yes, powders no.

"Alexis has been really mysterious lately. I don't know how she knows what she knows. It's so unlike her." He barely recognized her anymore and he didn't just mean the new hair color.

"She's a remarkable young woman who is all grown up. You should be proud of her. You did good with her." Kate bumped his shoulder.

"Of course I'm proud of her. Just don't talk about her growing up." He didn't want her to stop needing him.

"Everyone grows up, Cas…Dominic." Kate wasn't sure she was ever going to get that right.

"I didn't." Rick had no intention of growing up.

"True." It reinforced why she loved him.

"But you love me," Rick reminded her.

She was starting to have second thoughts. Then he kissed her and they all melted away.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"WOW!" Kate got out of the taxi and looked at the building. It looked like it was mostly beige brick and windows. It was also six stories tall. "Think we have the top floor?" She was hoping for a killer view.

"Let's find out," Rick said and gathered up their bags.

Turned out they were on the third floor. "OH, CASTLE!" Kate gave up on their new names for now. They got the keys, learned what the place offered, and walked inside.

There was a gas fireplace on one wall. A massive white sectional in the living room with a half dozen varying shades of blue throw pillows. There was a small balcony that had glass on two sides. The floor was an oyster-white tile with a large square space at the sectional that was a white shag area rug.

The dining room had a simple small glass top table and six winter-white cushioned chairs. Though the carved wooden base had her attention. Then there was the kitchen.

"This is a little disappointing." Rick wasn't a fan. It was small, the cabinets were outdated, the wood was stained oak, and the counters were laminate instead of granite or marble. The only upside to the kitchen was that the appliances were stainless steel and looked fairly new.

"It's fine, it has all we need." Granted, it wasn't to her taste, either. "Let's see what else this place has." Kate moved on to look around. "Hey, Castle, this looks like your kind of place," she called out from an adjoining room. She'd found a den that was filled with books and it had a small office off to one side behind a large, very contemporary, sliding barn-type door.

"A little small, but I like it." It was also a little more modern than he would like but it was nice.

"The perfect place for Nikki and Rook to get into trouble," Kate teased which earned her a scowl that had her smiling.

"See, you're warming up to the name Nikki Heat," Rick replied smugly.

"Keep dreaming, Castle, just keep dreaming." Kate left him to find out what else this place had to offer.

"CASTLE! The master bedroom has a fireplace and a patio with a view…of the water!" She tried to open the doors to go outside.

She was standing at the railing when Castle finally caught up to her. "A view, Castle!" Kate loved it.

Together they found the master bedroom bathroom that had a large walk-in shower with glass doors and a vanity with an oversized rectangular vessel sink. Rick liked the shower. "Room for two," he leered. Kate just rolled her eyes at him.

They found two more bathrooms and another bedroom that had a Murphy bed.

"It's not bad; it's not the loft but I like it." Kate was good with it.

"You like the loft!? You didn't tell me that." Rick was pretty sure she hadn't said anything.

"Of course I like the loft. I'm pretty sure I said something." Kate hated getting caught saying something she hadn't meant to say.

This time, though, it had Rick wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. "We'll get back there eventually. You'll see." He kissed her again and only stopped when the door bell sounded.

Rick wanted to reach for his weapon but since they had flown there, he'd been forced to leave it behind. "We just got here." He couldn't understand who it could be.

Kate suggested a couple of possibilities. "Manager maybe? More paperwork?"

Rick went over to the door and used the peep hole. Who he saw surprised him greatly. It also had him fumbling to get the door open. "ALEXIS!" How had she gotten here? They had only just arrived.

"Hi, Dad." Alexis wasn't looking forward to this visit.

"Alexis?" Kate was more than a little surprised. They had left her in Montreal, so how was she here?

"Hi." Alexis began playing with her hands. "I've got news." She just didn't know where to start.

"You can start with how you got here, young lady. We only just got here." Rick was beginning to be done with waiting for answers.

Alexis ignored her dad. "I've found out why he wants you dead, Kate."

"What!" Rick was stunned.

Alexis walked closer to her and waited. "Apparently your mother had something on him. A recording to be precise, where he talked about having her killed."

"Why? What could my mother have possibly known? She never even talked about him." Kate didn't get it. That her mother was involved was a given, but not this.

"The recording will ruin his career and put him in jail for the rest of his life. And your mother isn't the only person that he's had killed." Kim had gotten a lot out of him.

"Wait, wait, wait." Rick had a question. "How do you know all this?" They were on the run because of what Alexis was telling them and it was past time for answers.

"I'm not the one that actually found out." Alexis knew she couldn't tell them much. "Kim gathered the information."

"Kim?" Rick didn't understand how or why she was involved.

"Kim's talented and has abilities that you wouldn't believe." Alexis needed to calm their fears. "I trust her. I trust her with my life and with yours. She hasn't been wrong yet." She took a step toward her father, her hands outspread. "You need to trust **me** , Dad. I don't want you to die. You or Kate," she quickly added.

Rick growled. This wasn't the daughter that he remembered. Something had changed.

Kate came up and rubbed a hand up and down his arm. "So where is it? This recording." If they had it they could end all this.

"He doesn't know. He's pretty sure that you don't know either. But he isn't willing to take the chance. He plans on being President of the United States. And to do that, that recording has to disappear. To ensure that, you have to die." Kim had found out that much.

"He also has a great deal of money. Enough to buy his way into the Oval Office." Alexis couldn't believe just how much.

Rick got it. "Enough to buy hired killers."

"Dad, you know how much money you have? Well…compared to him, you're broke. Your friend Patterson is just as broke." Alexis knew about his card games with other authors.

Kate wanted to say something but closed her mouth and thought about it all. "We need to find that recording. He honestly has no idea where it is?" she asked then shook her head. "Never mind. Of course he doesn't or he wouldn't be trying to kill me." She leaned up against Rick. "So how do we find it? He's not going to stop until we stop him."

"You're not going to like it," Alexis warned. They were looking at her, both of them upset and very concerned. "We let Kim do her job. She's why you two are still alive." Alexis meant not being dead like she had learned.

Rick stood up straight which had Kate looking at him. "What do you mean?"

Alexis had to think fast. She knew she had to share something. "I learned where Kate was being held from Kim. I told Javi and Kevin and they found you, Kate. She's also where I'm getting the powders you've been using. She's a friend. A good one, I promise. You'd like her if you gave her a chance." Alexis needed for both of them to like her and trust her.

"Not my twin sister," Kate smirked.

That had Alexis chuckling. "No, definitely not." Which was the truth. They weren't twins.


	26. Chapter 26

**One**

 **Chapter 26**

Alexis knew she had left her dad and Kate in shock. It was just that she thought they should know. Though what she didn't know was how to put an end to this nightmare.

After they got back they went back to the screens and began trying to come up with ideas of how to power a time machine. So far they'd rejected all of them. Either they were too close to a city or Kim didn't think they generated enough power.

"Where are you going?" Kim was walking off and Alexis was still anxious to try and help.

As Kim moved away, she turned her head and said, "To get a glass of wine. I need a break. Want one?" She needed a time out before her head exploded.

Both of them ended up sitting in the living room sipping wine. "In my time we would hide it inside a mountain or try and conceal it in plain sight. Make it look like something else," Alexis commented, not sure it was helping. Then she had a couple of thoughts. "There was a _Star Trek_ episode where this ancient building had been traveling through space. Over the years it collected so much debris that it looked like a comet. It even left a comet's tail behind it."

Jack shot her down. _"There are any number of comets in the_ _u_ _niverse. However_ _,_ _all of them have so far been accounted for. No new ones have been reported."_

Alexis was undaunted. "Okay, there was another _Star Trek_ episode where these aliens wanted to attack a planet. They made their ships look like asteroids. A kind of chameleon effect. Do you have that kind of technology?

"Or could it be a cloaking device like the Romulans have? Their ships can disappear, not just from visual sight but also from any kind of scanner. Do you have that kind of technology?" She wasn't willing to give up yet.

Jack shot her down again. _"There are both,_ _but_ _most of it is restricted to military. The invisibility you talk about would require a large power source. Since the time machine we are talking about likely requires a large power source_ _, t_ _he possibility that it is invisible is_ _doubtful_ _."_

Alexis started chewing her lip before taking a sip of her wine. Kim simply watched, still very impressed by her. Alexis had another idea. "You two are powered by a black hole. What's the largest known black hole anywhere in the universe?"

" _The largest known black hole is a supermassive black hole that is also known as a black sun. It is located in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4889 in in the Coma Berenices constellation. Well over 338 million light years from our present location_ _,_ _"_ Jack responded.

" _The only problem with that location is that it is on the list_ _of attractions on_ _an annual tour for one of the super cruise ships. It is also watched closely and studied extensively. Hiding anything there would not be easy._ _Though i_ _t would have the power to accomplish everything you have been talking about_ _,_ _"_ Jill added.

"How do we get there?" Alexis was willing to take a quick look at it.

"Take a cruise," Kim said dryly.

"Can we calculate when the next cruise ship will arrive and simply jump there for a quick look?" There was no need to go on the entire cruise.

" _The next cruise ship_ _is_ _set to arrive in 8 months, 11 days_ _,_ _and 18 hours from the present time_ _,_ _"_ Jill answered.

Alexis raised her eyebrows. "And your point?"

Kim burst out laughing; she was quite impressed. "You really have learned. Let's find out what your potential job requires first. I'm not taking you away from any college courses to accomplish what you want."

" _Program complete_ _,_ _"_ Jack commented instantly; he was ready.

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"I really am sorry," Kim called to Alexis who was moping her way to cry on their bed. Kim slumped, feeling bad for her. "How do we fix this?" Kim needed a plan and then a memory hit her. "We need to go," she told Jill as she pressed a series of panels on her arm and vanished in a flash of light.

This time Kim chose to go inside using her invisibility and found that the place was easy to get around in. The only problem was that she didn't find him. "Time for a new plan, Jill. He must live somewhere."

" _Program complete_ _,_ _"_ Jill responded.

Kate stayed invisible, went up to the door, and touched a series of panels. "Looks like he's home." With that information she vanished in a flash of light.

"Alexis." Kim leaned down poked her in the shoulder.

"Go away." Alexis wanted to wallow in her dejection alone.

"Kate's father is home now," Kim wheedled and got nothing in response. She hated to do this but if it got Alexis out of bed and back into the action… "When I was questioning Bracken, he threatened my family. Well, Kate's family. Mine's out of his reach, naturally."

Still Alexis just lay there. _"_ _ **GOD! What does it take to reach you when you're like this?**_ _"_ Kim started to dream up a new plan.

Alexis rolled over. "He what?"

"He said I had a family to be concerned about. He was threatening Kate, obviously, since he can't even begin to reach mine." Kim rolled her eyes at the stupidity of his threat.

"Mr. Beckett!" Alexis sat up suddenly. "If he can do to Kate what he did, what would Bracken do to him?" Alexis was suddenly very frightened for him. "I've got to find him. I just need a plan. Somewhere he could be a little safe." She started thinking.

"Well…" Kim had thought up an idea.

"I've got it! Gotta go!" Alexis hopped up, depressed a series of panels, and vanished in a flash of light.

"Glad I could help," Kim told the empty space. She stood there and waited since no matter how long it took Alexis, for her it would be only a second or two.

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Alexis knocked and waited impatiently. "Hi, Mr. Beckett." She was all smiles.

"Alexis!" She wasn't who he was expecting. But he recovered quickly. "Come in, young lady."

"Thanks." Alexis wandered around just a bit and felt Jack shocking her arm a little. "I'm really sorry, but may I use your bathroom?" She needed somewhere private.

"Just down there," Jim pointed. He watched Alexis go down the hall, very curious as to why she was at his home.

"Yes, Jack?" Alexis questioned softly.

" _This place is being monitored."_

"BUGGED! …By who?" Though the moment she asked him she knew the answer. "Never mind, can you disable them?" She needed to talk to him; she had a lot to tell him and ask of him.

" _I can guarantee that they will he_ _a_ _r nothing for as long as we are here."_ Jack could do that easily.

Alexis let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Good." She reached for the door. "OH!" She stepped over to the toilet, flushed it, then opened the door, quickly returning to the living room.

"Sorry about that," she apologized as she sat down on the sofa. "Sit with me, I have a lot to tell you." She waited for him. "Where to start?" Jim was so far behind in what was going on it was hard to know where to start. "First, Kate is alive." She knew he would be excited about that.

"That was Katie? I thought sure I had dreamed it." Jim was ready to hear more.

"Actually the person you saw was Kim. She looks exactly like Kate, but Kate **is** alive, I promise. We found her. She and my dad are in hiding." She couldn't tell him or anyone where.

Jim didn't understand. "In hiding? Like witness protection?"

"Not exactly. You see, we've also found out who had your wife killed. He's also the same person that had Kate shot at Captain Montgomery's funeral." Alexis had so much to tell him.

"You know who? **You** know?" Jim didn't understand how that was possible.

"Honestly, it was Kim that found out everything. I'm simply telling everyone and helping them." Now came the really hard part. "He has a two million dollar hit out on Kate and if they find her and Dad together, they **will** kill both of them." Alexis knew that for a fact.

"Rick, he's with Katie now?" Jim had always hoped those two would get together. But his daughter was stubborn and always seemed to make the wrong decisions where her heart was involved.

"Dad's helping her while they're in hiding." Alexis knew he needed to know but it wasn't good news. "You see, she didn't die on the operating table like the hospital told us. Plus the mortuary buried an empty casket. Both did what they were told to do.

"They had a man intercept her; he was supposed to kill her and bury the body. Except he didn't, he kept her instead. We're not really sure what he was thinking but he started giving Kate injections." This was the part Alexis hated the most.

Jim just sat there and waited even though he was full of questions. "The injections…they were heroin. He turned Kate into an addict."

"OH, GOD!" Jim started looking around everywhere. His first thought was that he needed a drink. He shook his head. He wasn't going to do that; he'd just gotten out of rehab.

Alexis reached across and took hold of his hands. "She's fine, I give you my word that Kate is fine. Dad's using medication to help her kick the habit. She's actually doing pretty well at the moment. She's lost a lot of weight, though, but she'll gain it back with time." Alexis needed him to believe her.

"Heroin…you're sure?" Jim didn't see how. Heroin was a strong drug and not easy to stop using. "You said you knew who." He remembered that part.

"Yeah, he's a powerful man. His name is William Bracken. Senator William Bracken."

"Senator." Jim thought that one over. "Why? Why kill Jo or Katie? Neither of them never even said his name before." At least he didn't remember either of them saying it. Though he was going to try and dig up some old memories just to be sure.

"Your wife had something on him. She was given a recording that had Bracken talking about having her killed. If we can find it, we can have him arrested and put in prison."

"Jo had a recording? How could she have a recording of him having her killed? That doesn't make any sense." The timing was just way off.

"We think she'd been given a recording, had been told it was important, and that it needed to be hidden, but hadn't been told what was on it. She was then killed just moments later."

Jim was still full of questions. "Who gave her the recording? Can't you just get another one? Ask whoever gave it to her for another copy?"

Alexis shook her head. "Captain Montgomery gave her the recording. We think he might be involved somehow. Though until we hear that tape we don't know for sure." She hated speaking ill of Roy, she liked him.

"And he's dead." Jim's idea went up in smoke. "Just how many people has he killed? And why?" What could a senator want so badly that he had to kill for it?

"Several actually. Your wife wasn't even his first and he had more killed after her. Not that he does it himself. He pays someone to do it for him. He has a lot of money. Or did have a lot of money." Alexis smiled, remembering what Jill had done with all that money. "He wants to be President of the United States. For that to happen that tape has to disappear."

Jim could see that. Politicians might be crooks and the public knew that, it was just that they didn't want to believe that **THEIR** politician was a crook. Plus they would over look a lot so long as it didn't directly affect them.

"I take it he doesn't have this tape." Jim shifted nervously on the sofa. "Alexis, can I talk to Katie?" Even if he couldn't see her it would be great if he could at least talk to her.

"I have an idea about that and no, he doesn't. Wherever you wife hid it, it must still be there. I want you to pack a lot of clothes and I want to move you to the loft. You and Grams can keep each other company and safe in one spot." This place was obviously not safe and the Hamptons wasn't safe. That left the loft.

"Stay with your grandmother?" Jim wasn't sure he liked her plan.

"You can keep each other company and Grams has a burner phone that can call my dad. You can use it to talk to Kate." Would that be enough to get him moving?

"Some of Jo's stuff is here, the rest is in storage. The same for Katie. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of all of it. You're sure Katie's alive?" He needed to hear it again.

"A little thin and a somewhat weak, but yes, she's alive. So long as Bracken doesn't find them, she'll get better. Dad will help her." Alexis was proud of her dad. He had taken most of this relatively well. She just wasn't sure how much longer he was going to go without knowing everything. An everything that he couldn't ever know.

"I always wished she would see how much Rick cares for her. She's just so blasted stubborn. She gets it from her mother." Jim hadn't really like Josh, but his daughter had chosen him so he went with it.

"Dad actually proposed recently. She's wearing a ring so I guess she said yes." Alexis had seen the ring but hadn't questioned either of them about it.

"Rick proposed? Katie said yes? Really! And Rick is helping her off heroin. I need to start packing." Jim got up and headed for the bedroom. The sooner he reached the loft, the sooner he got to use that phone and talk to his Katie-bug.

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Kim saw a flash of light and saw Alexis positively beaming. "I take it that went well."

"Yes! Jim's going to stay with Grams and was already on the phone talking with Kate when I left. I think both of them are happy to have someone with them and not be alone. I'm just not sure how safe either of them are. What if Bracken wants to have them killed?" Alexis didn't know how to stop it.

"We monitor both of them like you did the last time. Just not right now. We have time. Now about this time machine…" Kim had a different priority.

Alexis did her best to switch topics. "That massive black hole you talked about. Something about a cruise ship that goes close to it so people can see." A giant black hole as a tourist trap. The 51st century really was different.

"We need to get on that cruise ship and take a look." Kim thought about it. "Be right back." Alexis watched her vanish in a flash of light and then return a moment later.

"I'm still not sure I'm ever going to get used to that." She had no idea how long it had taken Kim – for her it was only a second.

"We have reservations that we don't really need to use unless you want to," Kim said.

"Take a cruise through space and see all the tourist traps that they go to. Can we?" Alexis held her hands together, tight to her chest, and smiled widely. It sounded like a great idea to her.

"If you like. You can compare your boyfriend's ship to this one," Kim teased.

Alexis smiled. "I've never actually seen his ship." Kim glared at her, a tiny bit annoyed that her tease hadn't worked out. She lifted her arm and disappeared in a flash of light followed a moment later by Alexis.

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Rick carried his two bags of groceries into the apartment and found Kate ready to intercept him. "Hungry?" He couldn't remember her being interested in eating this much. He was still watching closely as she dove into the bags to help him unpack. "Can I help you find whatever it is you want?" She was clearly looking for something.

Kate was done searching so she finally asked him, "No chia seeds?"

He shook his head. "They didn't have any. Actually the closest grocery is totally lacking in choices. I came back just long enough to use the internet to find a natural food store, providing I can find something close." He tried to appease her. "I'll make sure that they have chia seeds." Then he had an idea to tease her with. "You're not having a craving, are you?" Rick did his best to not smile.

"No, I just like chia seeds." Kate didn't want to feel dejected, but she did. Down in the dumps, she left the kitchen and headed for the living room only to stop suddenly. She turned her head to look back in the kitchen. "I'm not pregnant. You have to have had sex to get pregnant," Kate told herself softly and sent Castle an eyeful of daggers. However, her mind went that way and she found herself going back into the kitchen.

"While you're out searching for chia seeds you can come back with a box of condoms." Proud of herself, she walked away, feeling Castle stare at her. She could even imagine the look on his face.

"Condoms?" Rick muttered to himself. "Condoms. I can do that." He fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Kate was still proud of herself as she sat down and reached for the remote only to realize what she was doing and tossed it back onto the sofa like it was infected with a horrible disease. She reached for one of her books instead.

Then she saw Castle leaving for another grocery run and he was smiling. She chuckled at the look on his face. Then she remembered that she had put it there with her tease. She asked herself if it **was** a tease. She heard the door close and she was up and racing into the bedroom so she could strip. She hurried into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. Her face fell as she twisted and turned. She felt better and didn't even want a shot at the moment. She was still skin and bones. Even her breasts looked terrible. Kate turned her back on her reflection. She couldn't help but feel sorry for herself and a little angry.

Then it hit her. She wanted to have sex with Castle and it wasn't part of her teasing him. What was she thinking? He wasn't going to want to have sex with her! Not looking like this. She collapsed onto the bed and curled up. Her life sucked. It couldn't get any worse.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Kate opened her eyes and looked up to find Castle sitting next to her. He leaned down and kissed her. "Hi, Castle." She was happy to see him. Right up until she realized she was still naked and on the bed. "Castle! Don't look." Kate scrambled to get out of bed and get dressed. Except…he stopped her.

"Don't move." Rick held her in place and leaned down to kiss her again. He felt her kissing him back. Her heart beat frantically. They shouldn't be doing this. She was still a mess and she looked like hell.

"Don't think about it. Just follow your heart for a change." Rick kissed her again, felt her kissing him back, and even felt her arms curl around his neck and pull him down a little.


	27. Chapter 27

**One**

 **Chapter 27**

Kate's eyes popped open and at first she was confused. Yes, she and Rick had been sleeping in the same bed ever since this had started. Before they even left the Hamptons. It was just that now she had discomfort bordering on pain. A slow move of her leg told her where the pain was located. Though this pain had her smiling as well as beginning to cry softly. Rick was on his back and she was curled up next to him. "Don't leave me, Castle, don't ever leave." She knew her heart couldn't take it if he ever did.

"Never going to happen," Rick answered with a rough, sleepy-sounding voice.

That had Kate snapping her head to look up at him. She saw that he was smiling but his eyes were still closed. Satisfied, she tilted her head back down and found that she could see his cock. Her worst fear was that when she saw it it would bring back horrible memories from when she was being held and given shots of heroin. She knew she needed to get over it so she continued to stare at it.

"How do you feel?" Rick asked, betting it was time or near time for a powder.

"Fine," she replied quickly, meaning she was fine while looking at his cock.

"Kate?" His voice told her he was not happy with her standard answer to any of his questions.

Kate chose to reach out and hold his cock in her hand, even running a finger over the tip. "You probably shouldn't do that," he warned.

"I know, but I need to get used to it. I don't want to gag every time I see it." She wanted to be able to love him, all of him.

"I'll be happy to stay naked all day, except when I need to go out and get something." Rick smiled broadly. Not that Kate was looking up at him. Her eyes were still on his cock.

"Careful, Castle. I just might take you up on that offer." If it helped her get over seeing his cock she would let him do it. Rick was saved from a response when his watch started beeping.

"Time for your powder," Rick announced. Kate let go of his cock and let him roll out of bed. She watched his naked ass leave the bedroom. It was such a fine ass, too. She had no trouble watching him walk away.

When he came back, he was carrying two glasses but Kate only had eyes for his cock. It was even right at eye level when he came up to the bed. She was all set to reach out for it when he set both glasses down and helped to lift her up.

"What are these?" She knew it wasn't the heroin powder so that didn't leave much.

"One's for your infection and the other's for the pain. And don't bother trying to tell me that you don't have pain." Rick was sure that he had hurt her a little last night. She was skin and bones and he'd found out just how thin she was while making love to her.

Kate didn't argue and drank both drinks. Actually the only real pain she had was from when Castle had been inside her both times. She wasn't used to his size nor had she had sex in a while.

Rick started to walk away with the empty glasses. She reached out for him and stopped him. She had worked up the courage and needed to just say it. "Thank you…for last night and now. I'm a mess and there are lots of women–" Kate didn't get any further when Rick sat down on the bed and looked at her.

"I love you. I would love you if you had a rash all over your body. I would love you if you had breast cancer and needed to have both breasts removed. I don't love you because you're hot. Though you still are hot." Rick waggled his eyebrows and Kate hid her face. She felt him lift her head back up and he kissed her. Hesitant but overjoyed, she returned his kiss eagerly.

"You'll recover, Kate. You'll be back to your old self in no time." Rick was sure of it. It was just going to take time. He was willing to wait and help at the same time.

"I don't want to go back to the old me." Kate continued to press on. "That me…" She shook her head. "I knew I was falling in love with you but I wouldn't allow it. If I loved you and something happened, I couldn't take it," she finally admitted. "I'm so sorry, Rick. I was being stupid. Even Lanie kept calling me out on my stupidity but I wouldn't listen." She was being stubborn but she wasn't going to admit that.

"So you did love me." Rick beamed, his face almost glowing with joy. "I knew it. You loved me the second you saw me, didn't you?" He wanted her to admit it.

She snorted. "I thought you were a self-centered, full of himself jackass! That's what I thought. And I was right. A playboy that loved empty-headed, big-titted, blonde bimbos. You even shoved all of that in my face at first. I don't know what you were thinking or why I would like that." Actually she had hated almost everything about him at first.

No woman had ever called him out like Kate was doing now. He knew now that he'd been a shallow idiot. It was why he had changed so much. Kate was **the one** for him and he wasn't going to stop until he'd won her.

"You always did want to shoot me." Rick made a joke. It was his way of coping.

Kate smiled. "Well, I don't have a gun now, Castle, so you're safe." She would let him have his coping mechanism.

"I'm going to go start on breakfast. You'll need energy for tonight." Rick leaned down, gave her a quick kiss, and stood up to leave.

"What's happening tonight?" Were they going somewhere? They didn't have a car this time. He used taxis whenever he left to get something.

"Sex," Rick called over his shoulder as he exited the room.

Kate felt her mouth fall open and realized that even the idea of having sex again was exciting. She also knew that the more often they had sex, the more she would adapt to his size and it wouldn't hurt after like it did now.

She curled up and pressed a hand to her mouth. "He does love me," she murmured. This time she believed it. Will had said that he loved her; Josh had said that he loved her. But this time she knew that she was loved.

"Breakfast." She wanted to eat and get better. She wanted to be able to fuck his brains out. She clambered out of bed, moaning a bit at the pain between her legs. "More sex, lots and lots of sex."

She found him still naked in the kitchen searching it for ingredients. "Something solid this time?" She felt so much better now. He loved her and she knew it and she loved him and could show it.

Her request had Rick opening his laptop that was on the counter. It had been three months or there about and his directions were listed. What he wanted to do was say yes. But his directions were specific and they hadn't reached that goal yet. "Chia seeds?" he offered instead and saw Kate smile.

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Kim blinked as Alexis arrived in a flash of light. "How did it go?" Kim really was curious and cared what Alexis thought.

"Jim was happy to learn that Kate really was alive. Last I saw he was on one of Dad's burner phones talking to Kate." Alexis was all smiles. "Oh, I also got an address for his storage locker that he has lots of things in." She was thinking they could search it. Then she hung her head. "I forgot to have Jack scan his apartment for the recording." Alexis was sure she had screwed up. She got so wrapped up in Jim being happy.

"I'll be right back." Alexis lifted her arm only to have Kim stop her.

"Relax. You're wearing yourself to a frazzle. You're worrying about every little thing. This cruise might be just what you need. Time to kick back and enjoy life. Remember, time isn't an issue for us. To a point anyway." Kim saw her dejected look. "We're both still aging. Just because we can move around from century to century doesn't change that. We aren't going to live one day longer just because we can," Kim cautioned.

"I've been acting like that, haven't I?" Alexis saw a trap in all of this time travel.

Kim listed her options. "So your choices are: the cruise; going forward in time to see if they have a job for you; seeing your boyfriend. Which one do you choose?"

That had Alexis thinking about it. She could go see Redd and have sex. A smile flitted across her face. That would be fun. Although she could go on a cruise and just relax or go find out if she had a job in her future. "How about all three?" Alexis put on her puppy dog look and pleaded with Kim.

"That wasn't part of the deal and your puppy dog eyes don't work on me. A lot of people have tried that and it didn't work then." Kim wasn't going to let it work this time either.

"Wicked taskmaster." Alexis stuck her tongue out at her and saw Kim smile at her. Alexis sighed and made her choice. "Fine, let's find out about my job. Then we can go on your cruise and do nothing." It wasn't what she wanted to do but she gave in.

"Deal! You first." Kim waited for Alexis to vanish. Happy that Alexis hadn't caught on to what she just did, she pressed a series of panels and arrived next to Alexis.

"Jack?" Alexis knew he had access to her account that they could contact her with.

" _Downloading_ _,_ _"_ Jack informed her. _"They want to talk to you. They have an offer for you."_

" **YES!** "Alexis started dancing in place. "Now what?"

"You go talk to him. You know where he is. I'll be right here." Kim decided that if Alexis was going to take this job, she needed to do it herself. "Jack will be right there with you through it all."

"I'll be right back," Alexis said excitedly and began running for his office.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"What are we going to find, Jill?" Kim was curious and a little scared.

" _Nothing. A time machine_ _c_ _ould be anything or nothing."_ Jill didn't have enough information to formulate a theory. _"The black hole we are talking about is a tourist attraction. People see it all the time. How do you hide a time machine near a black hole?"_ That ability was something she could not compute.

Kim sighed and made a decision. "Let's find out. We both know someone who might know." She didn't hear Jill take a deep breath.

Kim disappeared in a flash of light and arrived in a flash of light. "Hi, Doctor Jeriba Shigan. I have a question for you."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis listened to every word he said. "You have an M.E. and you just need an assistant. Does he or she know this? We've never even met." What if they didn't like each other?

"Her name is Dr. Leslie Lukash and she's just in the next room. She wanted to meet you before making her selection." He touched a panel and a moment later in walked Dr. Lukash.

A little to Alexis's surprise or maybe to her great surprise, she was her first true alien she had seen to date. "Ms. Castle, this is Dr. Leslie Lukash. I'll leave you two to get to know each other since you'll be working together." He got up and left, leaving Alexis to stare at her possible new boss.

Alexis heard some clicking followed by an artificial voice speaking English. "I take it I'm your first alien. The look on your face spoke volumes," she said.

"Well, technically my boyfriend is blue, but yes, you're the first. If I may I ask, what are you?" Alexis looked her over and couldn't even figure out if it was a female. She knew men whose first name was Leslie. Though the intermediary **had** referred to the doctor as she.

Alexis couldn't tell if it was a smile or if she wanted to bite her. This was followed by clicking sounds and then English. "I'm a Kell. Don't be afraid, I'm not going to eat you." She held up her long thin arms.

All Alexis saw was a being that had a long narrow face, with long narrow eyes that were quite large and spaced far apart. The whole head slanted upward and outward in a narrow-V position, giving her an insect-like appearance. Her torso was extremely thin, and long with stick-like arms and fingers sloping almost vertically downward from the wrist. The legs were also bent at an almost right-angle at the mid-joint creating a crouched pose. It all gave her a rather intelligent, gently spirited and jerkily moving, human-like form.

"No offense but you look a lot like–" Alexis was interrupted by clacking sounds followed by English.

"A bug." Alexis couldn't tell if she was joking or not. However, she was right.

"I was going to say a praying mantis," Alexis said.

There was more clacking followed by English. "We are both right. But I like your take a little more. Does my form frighten you?" If it did they were over before they even started.

Alexis didn't bat an eye. "On my planet, the insect you resemble is tiny and eats other bugs mostly, though they are known to eat a little meat. And no, you don't scare me. Now if you looked more like a T-Rex with a head full of massive sharp teeth? That would scare me."

More clicking sounds were followed by, "So you've met my boyfriend." A moment later all Alexis heard was a lot of clacking sounds. "Your face was priceless." Alexis heard more clacking.

Alexis knew her mouth fell open before she closed it. "Oh, funny." Alexis took a risk and stuck her tongue out at her.

Then the door opened. "So ladies, what's the verdict?" He needed to know or scramble to find someone else.

There were clacking sounds followed with, "She'll do. Get her ready. I look forward to working with you." Alexis wasn't sure but the M.E. looked to be smiling.

"Ms. Castle, we have a lot to go over and forms for you to sign." He got to work on presenting the offer.

: {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} :

Alexis flashed into existence in front of Kim and started dancing. Then she hugged Kim for all she was worth. "I take it it went well?" Kim thought she was safe with that.

"I got the job! They're teaming me with a professional M.E. She just needs a little support. You should see her. She said that she was a Krell, I think?" Alexis was sure she had screwed that up.

Jack corrected her. _"Miss Alexis means Kell."_

"YES, Kell! Thank you. She looks like a praying mantis, only bigger. A lot bigger." Alexis showed the normal size followed by her size. "Do I want to know if she'll eat me?" Alexis still wasn't sure about that and made a face that had Kim laughing.

"You're fine. So what did they offer and have you accepted already?" Was Kim out of the loop?

Jack put up a 3D image of the offer for Kim to read. "This offer is for a 2 year commitment to the job with an option for another if your M.E. approves of your work." Kim was impressed. Then she used a finger to scroll down a little more. "The pay's nice." She was really impressed now. "Did they talk to you about the option at the bottom?" Kim liked it but did Alexis like it and was she interested in it?

"He did. If Leslie likes my work and provides a letter of recommendation and the next job goes well, I'll have a chance at purchasing some land. Apparently part of their pay is an option to purchase some of the land that the colony has." Alexis didn't know what to think of that.

"Your first land purchase. Congratulations. Do things right and you might end up rich." Kim was happy for her. "So, are you ready for our cruise?" It was time to relax. "Let's pack a few clothes. Maybe a real swimsuit. Maybe find some competition for your boyfriend," Kim teased.

"Or a real boyfriend for you. Since you didn't ask Redd's brother out," Alexis shot back.

"He was military. Not sure I want to sit at home wondering if my guy is going to come home or not. It might be the 51st century but that doesn't stop a conflict from erupting." Kim knew it happened from time to time.

"Fine." Alexis gave up on Redd's brother. She tried something else. "Maybe the captain of the cruise ship?"

"I'm not that old!" Kim didn't know if she was insulted or not. Most captains she knew of were the age of her parents. "Now go pack before I shoot you."

Alexis was smiling as she walked away to pack what little she had. "You know, Kate threatens to shoot my dad all the time." Alexis didn't see the daggers being sent her way.

Kim tried again, "I didn't promise not to shoot you," only to hear Alexis laugh.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"Is that our ship!?" Alexis saw a 3D rendering hovering in the middle of the sign in area.

"Like it? This company went on an _Ancient is better_ binge." Kim kind of liked it. Even if it was a waste.

"How many people does it hold?" Alexis couldn't see it holding very many.

"Just under 3,000 guests plus staff of a few hundred more." Even Kim was a little impressed.

Alexis watched it spin in place, showing it off. "It looks like an old British ship of the line…in space." That was the part that she didn't understand.

It had three masts that had three or four sails per mast plus a bowsprit jutting out in front of the ship. "What are the sails for?" Alexis didn't see any use for them out in space.

A voice in front of her answered, "Those are part of the ship's emergency power system." Alexis hadn't noticed that she had reached the sign in desk. "Space, despite what you may think, is **not** empty. The sails capture everything and convert it into power. Enough to maintain the ship's environmental systems long enough for help to arrive should something go wrong. Nothing will go wrong, I assure you. Our record is flawless."

Alexis wasn't assured, though. Thankfully she had Jack and Kim had Jill. They could come and go as they pleased.


	28. Chapter 28

**One**

 **Chapter 28**

"I'm going to go look at the sports area, see if they have anything that interests me," Kim said after they unpacked in their room.

"Can we open this?" Alexis looked at the glass doors that went out onto a small lanai. It had only a couple of chairs and a small table outside.

Kim could see a sign next to the door in the form of a universal warning. "Read the warning first."

Alexis read what it said and was sure she understood, so she opened the door and stepped out. "I'm in space," Alexis told herself softly. "I'M IN SPACE!" She spread her arms wide and spun around gleefully.

Watching her, Kim laughed as she pressed a series of panels. She wasn't going to leave this to Alexis, especially if things had gone wrong.

Kim showed up outside and door and pressed a series of panels. "DAMN IT! This Bracken is really beginning to piss me off." She opened the unlocked door and went inside. It wasn't hard to find the bodies. "How long, Jill?" She needed a time if she was going to fix this.

" _Approximately 2 days and 11 hours ago from present time."_

Kim growled; she'd been really close totally by accident. She paused and thought for a moment. She needed to make a stop and then she'd deal with her biggest problem. "I need solution – a permanent one." Bracken needed to be taken care of and it was going to make her a lot happier.

She arrived in a flash of light and didn't see anyone. "Jill?" She didn't want to search for them.

" _Mr. Beckett is in the master bedroom. Ms. Rodgers is upstairs._ _They are alive but n_ _either appear_ _s_ _to be moving_ _much_ _._ _It is possible that they are resting._ _"_

Kim settled down to wait. Thankfully with her good timing and Jill's help, she didn't have to wait long. The sound of someone at the front door had her up and pressing Jill's panels.

In walked a pair of men. "I'll take the broad, you take the old man," one said to the other.

"You just want to…" He used his arm to simulate him poking the old woman with his cock.

"That old bag?" The first man rolled his eyes. "Please. Just get the old man out here so we can kill them and leave a message like we were told." He wanted to get the other half of his payment, not knowing that Bracken had no intention of paying them anything. In fact he had a killer waiting for both of them.

Kim's growling at how pissed off she was with those two had them looking around and actually pulling their guns. She looked at the one who did the most talking and while she could just blow his head off, she wanted him to feel pain. She sped across the room and smashed her fist into his chest. She heard the sound of bones breaking, the sound of the air coming out of him, as well as the sound of him landing in a heap on the floor.

Kim spun and grabbed the other killer's gun arm, twisting till she heard his bone snap. He screamed from the pain as well as dropping his weapon. She slammed her palm into his nose which sent him flying.

It was over in seconds. She stood there listening to one trying to suck in air while gurgling blood. The other was lying on the floor, moaning in pain and holding his broken arm that had a bone showing.

"What the?" The sound of a voice had Kim looking up to find Martha at the railing.

"Call law enforcement, Ms. Rodgers. Someone you can trust," Kim called out. She moved out of sight then touched the panels and vanished in a flash of light. She would check on the two of them later.

She was betting on Bracken being in his office so she went to his home first and pressed a sequence of panels. The result was a spectacular explosion that turned his official home into a hole in the ground. "That was somehow satisfying. Just like this will be." Kim was happy with herself and vanished in a flash of light.

She arrived just outside of his office and found Barbara missing again which was good. She didn't miss hearing his voice, though.

" **WHAT! What do you mean it's gone?** " Kim smiled wide at her timing. She dropped her invisibility, opened the door, and walked in. Bracken's head snapped up. "I'll get back to you."

"Detective Beckett. I didn't think we would meet again. Has Captain Gates caught up to you yet?" He'd made sure his lawyer explained things to her.

"Gates doesn't concern me and I have something for you." Kim bounded over to him and landed on him, forcing him out of the chair and onto the floor.

"OW!" The action had hurt and he hated pain, especially his own.

"Don't move." Kim forced his head to the floor and twisted it so that one side was exposed. "This won't hurt a bit." She smiled, producing a small vial which she opened and placed at his ear. She watched the contents slide into his ear. Then heard him screaming from the pain as it burrowed its way into him. "There, all done." She got up off of him and walked away a short distance, pleased with what she'd done.

"What did you do!" He held a hand to his ear which still hurt.

"Oh that?" Kim loved this part. "That, Mr. Bracken, was a real alien. Something your world has never seen…not yet, anyway. But you're going to be the first. Enjoy your transformation." She was sure he wasn't going to enjoy it at all, but that was the part she liked.

"What are you talking about?" What Beckett was saying made no sense.

"That was a parasite that's going to change you. You're going to enjoy the new you. I'll warn you, though, it's going to be extremely painful. Which is actually the good part." Kim was still smiling.

"You should have left everyone alone and just gone to prison; now prison is no longer an option. I'm sure there's some group somewhere that will want to study you after your change. I don't think humans in the 21st century are ready to elect an alien to be president. If you do anything, hurt or kill anyone else, I'll be sure to make your life even more painful than it already is going to be." Kim was going to make sure she was here to watch his transformation stages.

"What are you talking about?" Bracken didn't understand any of what she was talking about but it made him very uneasy.

"You really want to know? All right, I'll tell you. The worm that is now inside you has been affected by a chemical. A0-3959x.91-15. It will slowly begin to change your body to a mutant form. It will affect all parts of your body. You skin will start to discolor and your eye color will change. It will affect your brain. The host – that's you – will become extremely aggressive and seemingly mindless as it attacks any living thing in sight.

"By then the entire city or even the country will be hunting you. Fortunately for you, you'll be resistant to weapons that they use in this century, meaning you'll escape and continue to be hunted. Maybe if we're both lucky they'll capture you and start to analyze just what you have become. I'm sure it will be long and painful."

Bracken didn't believe a word of it. "I'm calling the police and your future just came to an end," he blustered.

Kim looked at him funny since he shouldn't be acting like this. "Jill, when are we?" Had she made a mistake?

" _We are three days before your other visit to him."_

Kim groaned; Jill hadn't stopped her. She threw up her hands and let them drop to her side. "Fine, I guess we'll see each other again with just a few changes." She stomped out of the room.

"The police will hunt you down," Bracken yelled after her and went to his safe to look up numbers for his hired killers. Kate was just leaving and if he and they were fast enough, they could catch her as she left the building. He missed seeing the flash of light and didn't believe a word she had said.

"Okay, new rule, Jill. The next time I try and do what I just did, warn me." Kim really hated screwing up like that.

: {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} :

Kim arrived in their cabin and started to strip. "I didn't get a swimsuit." She hung her head. "I'm really starting to hate today." She vanished in a flash of light only to arrive back in a flash of light, carrying a small bag with her.

Happy with how she looked, she put on her flip flops that she had gotten with her suit, grabbed a towel, her room key, and headed for the pool. "Ooo, a Jacuzzi." Kim climbed up the steps and lowered herself into the water. "Yeah, a girl could get used to this."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

"There you are." Kim spotted Alexis in one of the side rooms just sitting there. "What are you doing here?" Kim sat down next to her.

"Well according to the schedule, they're going to have a classic music trivia contest. I thought if it was classic enough I might actually know one or two. And no, I hadn't planned on cheating." Alexis had no intention of getting Jack to help her.

"I think there's a difference between classic and ancient," Kim teased and earned having Alexis stick her tongue out at her.

"I might know one maybe." Alexis doubted it but it was something to do. "When do we arrive at the black hole? It's not on today's list."

Jack answered her question softly. _"_ _Four more days."_

"Have you been on the top deck?" Kim asked.

Alexis raised her eyebrows. "We're in space. You know, a vacuum with no oxygen?"

"Like our balcony?" Kim countered.

"We can…" Alexis was up and running for the stairs. She HAD to see this.

Kim caught up to her and stood next to her. "This is amazing!" Alexis couldn't believe the view. "We're in space on a sailing ship that actually has sails. Out on the deck with nothing but real space around us. Amazing. Thank you so much." She wiped at a tear that had escaped.

"Wait until you're standing here looking out at a massive black hole. It's bigger than you think. A lot bigger," Kim said. "I'm going downstairs to throw my money away. Don't forget your ancient music trivia." She smiled at the redhead as she walked away.

"Oh, ha ha. I'll show you ancient!" Alexis yelled after her but stayed to look at the view.

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Javi stayed behind to talk with Martha and Jim. "You're sure you don't know these two or who did this to them?" The "them" he was referring to the men who'd broken into the loft; they were both in bad shape. The EMT had been really worried about the one with the chest injury. He knew at least one of his lungs had collapsed.

"No, nothing. There was just some noise and then I heard a voice telling me, telling us, to call the police," Martha repeated yet again.

Jim corrected her. "Actually it said for us to call local law enforcement. Someone that we trusted. Martha suggested you because of Rick and Katie."

"Well, we'll find out who they are. You might want to think about contacting Alexis or Castle if either of you can. Something's definitely going on. It's possible that he might be trying to turn the screws on Castle and Kate. Get them to come out of hiding." Javi didn't say what was going through his mind. _"So he could kill them," he thought grimly._

"I'll call Alexis. She told me to call anytime and she would be here if we needed her." Martha knew it had worked last time. She still didn't understand how Alexis was doing what she was doing. Or how calling her was really going to help but she would do it.

"Kevin or I will check on you tomorrow, just to make sure." If Bracken had tried once he would try again. He just didn't know what to do about it.

: {o} : {: **O** :} : {o} :

"JIM, COME SEE THIS!" Martha called loudly and waited for him to leave her son's study which was where he spent most of his time. Martha didn't know why but she was watching the local news. Truth be told, she was hoping to learn something.

Jim came walking out of the study. "What?" He watched her point at the TV. He came and stood next to her, watching what she was watching. "Bracken's in the hospital?" That was news. "Do they say why?" Jim was listening but they weren't saying a whole lot and he didn't see Martha shake her head.

"I'm going to call Alexis." This was big as far as Martha was concerned. But as before, all she got was voice mail.

"What's going on, Jim?" She knew he didn't have answers but she wanted answers just like her son did.

"If he's hurt other people, he may have enemies. This could be their doing," Jim suggested, not sure that was the answer. Bracken seemed to have a hate for his family that Jim didn't understand.

A knock on the door had both of them jumping out of their skins. "Maybe it's Alexis," Martha said hopefully since her phone call had worked last time. She wasted no time in opening the door but was surprised by who was on the other side. "Kim?" It was hard for her to tell since they both looked so alike. But she knew Kate was with her son in hiding.

"Hi, Martha. Alexis is having fun so I thought I would come instead." Kim walked past her into the loft. "Mr. Beckett, it's good to see you again."

"Has something happened?" What help did she need to provide them?

Kim listened to everything including Jim questioning her just who she was.

"So Bracken's in a local hospital." Kim liked the sound of that. "Don't be surprised if he gets a lot worse. I don't think you'll be having any more trouble with him. His own troubles have only just started." She tried to hide her smile since she knew what was next for him.

"Shouldn't we be searching for that recording?" Jim inquired.

"You can if you wish, but I don't think you'll need it. Unless you have a reason." Kim didn't see one but it wasn't her life.

"I don't know what you seem to know, but he needs to spend his life in jail. Plus I need to find that recording for Jo's sake. She died for all this." He wanted to do all he could for his wife.

Kim tried to think this through. "Then we'll do what we can to help you find it. I should get back to Alexis." She got up and started for the front door.

"Where is she?" Martha finally asked since Kim was here and not Alexis.

"Getting ready to go on a cruise. I thought it would be good for her. A chance to relax and not worry about everything. See places she hasn't ever seen. After that we'll see. I know she wants to attend college badly." Kim wasn't sure just what to do about that.

"Is she alright?" Martha was worried about her.

"Alexis is having a blast. I'll be sure to tell her that you asked about her. I'm sure when she gets a chance she'll come visit." Since Kim was going to tell her Alexis would probably show up in a few minutes knowing her.

Kim was gone. "I still don't understand how she looks so much like my Katie." Jim was still not sure it wasn't her except for how she acted. Short hair cut and all.

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Kate didn't want to fall asleep, however, she was fading fast. Though it was her own fault. Now that they'd had sex, she found that she craved it. She needed to feel him, hold him, and kiss him. She'd even taken over this time and had been on top. God, but it felt so good to have him inside her.

She was mildly surprised that she even remembered how to get the condom on without ripping it with her nails. She was still upset that putting the condom on hadn't gone as easily as she had wanted it to. Flashes of the man who had held her still showed up in her mind. She had fought past them and once the condom was on she hadn't ever looked that way again.

Right now she was worn out and laying on top of him. She was also starting to cry softly just a little. Naturally Castle didn't fail to notice. "What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Rick didn't see how since Kate had been on top both times. Truth be told he was amazed that she had the strength to do it. It told him she really was getting better.

They did have a fair amount of powders that needed to be used, though. Only the one for pain said it could be stopped when no longer needed. His instructions had said that the others should be taken until they were all gone.

Kate shook her head. "I love you," she whispered. He had made it. He was either past all of her walls or they were finally gone, crumbled to dust. She could feel him in her heart. She had never known just what her heart could feel like when she was truly in love with someone.

She had never actually told Josh or even Will that she loved them. She had heard them tell her that they loved her, but she had never said it back. But she loved Castle.

"I love you, too." Rick kissed the top of her head and squeezed her a little closer.

Kate shook her head. "You don't understand. …My walls are gone. I love you. I know that I love you." She tilted her head so she could look at him. "I want to marry you. There's nothing I want more than to marry you. I can love you." She put her head back down on his chest. "I do love you."

She missed hearing Rick start to cry since her ability to stay awake after using up that much energy had finally caught up to her.

"I love you too, Kate. More than you'll ever know. But I'm going to prove it every day of our lives." He had never felt this way about any woman. Kate was definitely the one.


	29. Chapter 29

**One**

 **Chapter 29**

"I thought I might find you up here." Kim moved next to Alexis who was up on the deck, yet again looking out into space. Though more specifically the black hole. If it could be called that. Since from this perspective it looked like a giant black sun.

"I can't take my eyes off of it. To think that it's over 20 thousand suns in size. I'm still not sure I truly comprehend just how big that is. We're not even close to it, if I understand correctly." Alexis looked at Kim before going back to looking at the black hole.

Kim tried to reassure her that they were safe. "We're about as close as we dare to be. It's size doesn't make it more powerful, it just makes it more capable of drawing in more material at a greater rate. There's a theory that eventually this black hole and others like it will become so large that the universe can't create new material to compensate. That little by little, the black holes will take over and the universe will be gone." Kim knew she would be dead long before that event occurred.

"Black holes eating black holes." Alexis shook her head. "I'm having trouble with this and you blow my mind with that." Alexis chuckled softly. "Only I don't see anything. Just a black hole." She was suddenly dejected. She had talked Kim into coming here and there was nothing.

"Don't worry, it's only one black hole. Stay and watch. I'm going to go to the exercise room for a while and then I'll jump in the shower. Enjoy." Kim rubbed her arm and walked away, leaving Alexis alone, watching a black hole.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Kim was running to nowhere if you didn't count the 3D view that surrounded her. In this case she was on a beach somewhere. She hadn't paid any attention to just where, just that it said beach. Suddenly Alexis was standing in front of her and it wall all Kim could do not to stumble and crash all over herself. "You have to see! Come on." Alexis grabbed hold of her and started running, causing Kim to falter momentarily before keeping up.

Kim found herself back up on the deck looking out at the black hole again. "There!" Alexis pointed; Kim gave her her moment and looked. She shrugged. It looked like a black hole to her.

"Sorry, use your contact and switch between the views as fast as you can and look that way." Alexis pointed again. "Jack?"

" _Coordinates transferred to Jill."_ Jack thought that would be simpler than stating the coordinates which were actually complicated.

Kim decided to amuse Alexis by looking and cycling between her vision options.

Alexis watched as Kim stepped up to the railing and looked with intensity. "Please tell me you see it."

"I…" Kim shook her head. "Jill, speculate for me." She had Alexis and possibly Jack but she felt better having Jill tell her.

" _The matter being pulled into the black hole is going around something that can_ _not_ _be seen. I_ _a_ _m unable to scan it to determine its exact location_ _due_ _to the gravity of the black hole."_

"Jack said the same thing. Does that mean what I think it means?" If it did Alexis thought that meant trouble.

"It means neither of us can get there from here or anywhere else. If Jack and Jill can't find it then they can't go there." Kim had a lead and it was out of reach.

"I was afraid you would say that." Alexis, however, wasn't willing to give up. Kim had done a lot for her; it was time to pay her back.

"Kim, if that's the time machine, it means that someone built it and has used it, if they're not using it now. They and your clones got there somehow. So how do we?" Alexis had gotten used to using Jack to get everywhere and at the moment didn't see any other way. Especially when Kim didn't have a space ship.

"We need for Jack or Jill to be able to scan it, or we fly there." Kim didn't see another way. "But nice work!" Kim hugged her. Kim knew she owed her for this. "Our room. We need to figure out how to get there and I need to find a way to thank you for this." She knew she would think of something, and hugged Alexis again.

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Kim was sitting on the floor and Alexis was curled up on her bed. They had nothing so far. Either Jack or Jill had shot down everything so far.

Alexis recapped their problem. "The issue is that everything goes around it now, so anything we send at it will simply go around it. We've tried everything I can think of; have we missed anything? What other things can we send at it?" After they found one they could tackle on how to send it.

They'd tried every particle that they could dream up. "Kim, why does it not fall into the black hole? I mean we're pretty far away and yet it's really close. It should get sucked in and destroyed, shouldn't it?" It was one thing Alexis didn't understand.

"You're asking the wrong person. I'm a security expert not an expert on gravity formed by black holes. All we have is Jack and Jill. Which is a lot," Kim added quickly.

"Can we crash something into it? Something that Jack and Jill can find to get us there. Except they can't scan it so how can they scan what we send?" Alexis fell onto the bed.

To Kim there was only one answer but it presented its own challenges. "We fly there."

That had Alexis looking at her. "You said you don't have a space ship." How could they fly there if they didn't have something to fly in?

"I don't, which means we either borrow one or buy one. And since I can't afford one, that only leaves borrowing one." Kim couldn't only think of one way.

"You know someone we can borrow a space ship from?" Did they really have a chance?

"Well that depends on your version of borrow." Kim knew Alexis wasn't going to approve.

Alexis opened her mouth to question her and then closed it. Alexis made up her mind. "Then don't tell me where you get it." She wanted to help Kim and if this was part of the cost then she would pay it.

"Follow me." Kim got up and started walking out of their room. Which was not what Alexis was expecting. She had expected to use Jack. It left her questioning what was going on but followed Kim.

"Um, didn't it say crew only?" Alexis pointed at the door they had just gone through.

"It did," Kim agreed. She pressed the proper panels and vanished. Alexis scrambled to do the same.

"Where are we going?" Alexis whispered softly since there was crew seemingly everywhere.

"We're going to borrow something. Through here." Kim opened a door into a tiny room. She closed it behind them only to open one in the floor. "Hop in. Just pick a side and jump in." Alexis looked down and saw only two seats. She was filled with questions but started to climb down and dropped into one of the seats. What she found was black in front of her. Around her were a series of panels that looked a lot like Jack's.

Kim dropped into the other seat and closed the door above them. "Where are we?" Alexis couldn't wait any longer.

"This little guy is the ship's captain's shuttle. He uses it to get around when the ship is docked somewhere," Kim explained and began pressing panels. Alexis saw a pair of panels fold in above them.

"We're stealing the captain's ship?" Kim had lost her mind, she was sure of it.

"Borrowing, we're borrowing not stealing. We're just not asking him for his permission first. He can approve later. Much later," Kim muttered. Though she was sure he would never approve now or in the future.

Alexis saw the space all lit up. "Get ready," Kim warned her just before she released the clamps holding them in place. Suddenly Alexis felt them drop and they were out in space.

"What's that blinking?" Alexis pointed at a panel with a flashing light.

"Ignore it." Kim knew it was the cruise ship trying to raise them and find out what the hell was going on.

"What's that blinking?" There was another panel that had started blinking. "WOOO!" Suddenly Kim changed course and the system took a moment to compensate.

Alexis glared at her. "What was **that**?"

Kim started to tell her it was nothing. Then she thought about telling her it was a malfunction. Then she decided on the truth. "That was the ship trying to lock on a tractor beam and bring us back." She made a sudden course change.

"I don't want to know, do I?" Alexis was betting that was another tractor beam.

"Nope!" Kim made another course change. A few more of those along with the first blinking light that never stopped. "We're starting to reach the point of no return. We get any closer and this little guy won't have the power to escape the black hole," Kim warned her.

Alexis stared out the view screen but saw nothing. Her heart rate did elevate dramatically, though. "This was a bad idea." Alexis was starting to be sure of it.

"This was mostly your idea," Kim reminded her.

"Yeah, that's why it's a bad idea. You should have stopped me." Alexis clutched her seat a little tighter. "Jack should have stopped me."

" _Leave me out of this_ _,_ _"_ Jack insisted; Alexis scowled at him.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Alexis only saw black.

"We're headed for that dot." Kim pointed to a screen in front of them. "It's the best Jill could do because of all the gravity. If you have any prayers, now would be the time." Alexis could see that the dot was getting closer and closer.

Alexis crossed her fingers and then her toes.

"What happened?" Everything felt different.

" _We have entered a null field. Gravity does not exist here_ _,_ _"_ Jill responded.

"We found it? Where is it? I don't see it!" Alexis still saw nothing but black.

"We search," Kim answered, since it was all they could do.

"Null field. So no gravity right? …Jack, scan for me, please." If the gravity was off then his scans couldn't be bent by the gravity.

" _Follow the path indicated. I have found a landing bay. There is a docking clamp next to it if we need to utilize it."_

Kim looked at Alexis. "I was right, you **are** smart. You're going to do great." Kim was sure of it. Alexis blushed and tried to hide her face.

Kim pulled up right in front of the bay door. "Now how do we get it open? It's likely coded." She thought it was their next challenge.

"Open sesame?" Alexis offered which earned a stare from Kim. Alexis tried whistling the tune for _Close Encounters._

"Something more practical," Kim grumbled, not pleased with her choices.

"Blow a hole in it," Alexis suggested.

Kim shot that idea down. "This shuttle isn't armed and while we are, I can use my armor to survive out in space. But the second I open the canopy, **you** **'ll** die."

"In movies the hero always survives out in space for a few seconds because he doesn't breathe," Alexis remarked.

"Yeah, not happening." Kim wasn't risking it. She was here to make sure Alexis survived all of this. "We use the docking ring. We just have to back up to it carefully."

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Kim pressed the standard series of panels and listened to it buzz at her. Only to press again and listen to it buzz again. "Do we blow a hole in it?" Alexis teased and started laughing when Kim stuck her tongue out at her.

"Jack?" Alexis asked just as Kim said, "Jill?"

It had both of them looking at the other. "Beauty before age," Kim said and sat back.

"Jack?" Alexis asked. "And you're not old."

They both watched as the door cycled, allowing them to open it. "Just a simple air lock," Kim announced.

It only took a moment for the system to cycle and Kim opened it. "WOW!" Alexis was impressed even if it was empty.

Kim added her own wow. "This place is bigger than I thought."

"Does that mean there's no one here?" Alexis inquired.

Kim quickly pressed a number of panels which deployed her weapon and stared at Alexis.

"Fine." Alexis deployed her weapon. "But I'm not killing anyone." She intended on using the stun setting.

"Armor," Kim called out and Alexis watched as her armor deployed over her entire body. "Try to stay behind me." She trusted Jack to get her out of there if things went wrong.

Kim began walking toward a pair of large doors. "If I was planning this place that would be a maintenance bay for the ships that aren't here." Alexis stopped and looked around. "That door, it looks like an elevator." Alexis indicated a door that wasn't near the doors Kim was headed for.

Alexis grinned and stared at Kim after the door opened. "Fine, you win one," Kim conceded. They both moved into the elevator and then came another choice. Where to go?

Kim pressed a sequence of panels then pressed a panel on the wall and they were off. "Why that one?" Alexis questioned.

"It had the most residual DNA on it telling me that it was pressed the most often," Kim explained as they traveled. Alexis gave her that one.

It only took a minute; the elevator stopped and the door opened.

"In the movies, this has control room written all over it." Alexis smiled a broad smile, pleased that they'd found something. Kim went one way and Alexis went another. Neither of them saw anyone.

Kim stopped at a display and started pressing panels. "It's either encrypted or bio-controlled," she frowned; she got nothing.

Alexis chose a different display that was a big one and flat. "Jack." Alexis decided to cheat. She was rewarded with a large 3D display popping up. "I got something!" Alexis was happy with herself. Kim joined her.

"It looks like an interactive map." Kim reached her hands out and made the map move around and zoom in a little before zooming back out.

"I've seen something like this before. I just can't remember what movie." Alexis reached her hands into it and started moving it around. "I think this is the bay where we came in. This is the elevator we took to where we are now." She made it stop where they were now then spread it back out to start all over again. "This place needs power." She began moving it around again. "Here, maybe? It's in the center. So where does all the power go?" Alexis moved back out a little. "The time machine should be close, right?"

Kim reached her hands in and Alexis pulled hers out. "We follow the power conduits, not the corridors." Kim chased a large set for a short distance after altering the view. "Here." She changed it back to a floor plan and then into a 3D presentation.

"This area here." Alexis stuck her hands in and adjusted it. "This looks like a really large version of your power cones below the pool on your moon."

Kim was willing to agree, but it didn't make sense to her. "Maybe, but anyone standing there would be destroyed in the power discharge. I gave you a nanosecond and you felt that. Anything longer or more powerful would turn you into dust before destroying that."

"Okay." Alexis put her hands back in and went back to the center. "If this is the power core, then **these** are the cables for the time machine. All of these others go to various other areas." Alexis moved it around a little more before Kim put her hands in and stopped her.

"These cables aren't as big but it **is** a large bundle. Where do they go?" Kim began tracing them. "They end here before a massive number of smaller ones branch out."

"So what do they serve? Was that not the time machine earlier? So what is this?" Alexis put her hands back in and moved it around. "It's huge, whatever it is. It takes up over half the space."

Kim moved it around. "It doesn't show anything. It's like it's empty, but that makes no sense." She shook her head. "A cruise ship has lots of empty space. They do it to make the space look grand. But on a station or a real space ship, you use up every last inch of space. Nothing goes to waste. Even this control center's bigger and more open than it needs to be."

"They haven't finished construction, maybe?" Alexis offered.

"With an empty landing bay? Where are all of the construction materials? Where do the workers all stay?" Kim was filled with questions. "What do they need all that power for? That's a lot of branches."

"I'm 21st century, you tell me. I've never even been out in space before let alone next to a black hole." Alexis didn't have an answer and then a thought hit her. "This station is sitting next to a black hole and should get sucked in. Are those power cables feeding the reason why?"

"Let's find out." Kim headed toward the elevator, getting Alexis to follow.

While in the elevator both of them failed to notice a display light up and execute a program. The station followed this program to the letter.


	30. Chapter 30

**One**

 **Chapter 30**

"You look like you're feeling better," Rick commented. Kate looked more like herself and had been more active of late.

"I actually do feel better." Kate was willing to admit it. She still didn't like the way she looked, but she didn't want a shot nearly as badly and she was staying awake a lot longer.

"You think it's all the sex?" Rick teased and smiled at her.

"No! But I'm sure it didn't hurt." Kate smiled back at him. She was even initiating some of the sex they had now. "In fact if you play your cards right you might get lucky tonight." Kate smiled widely at him.

"Good thing I'm a good poker player then," Rick answered.

Her eyes sparkling, Kate challenged him, "Care to put your clothes where your mouth is?"

"Strip poker?!" Rick ran to the bedroom to look for a deck of cards. Kate laughed lightly. Though truth be told she didn't care who won since it meant sex in the end.

Rick was back and shuffling the cards when one of his burner phones started ringing. While he was annoyed at the delay, it meant someone wanted to talk to them so he left the cards and retrieved the phone.

"Yes." Rick had to be careful still. It was highly unlikely that anyone had one of their phones but he was guarded.

"Richard." It was his mother. "Have you been watching the news? Turn on the TV." Martha thought it was big.

"Mother says we need to turn on the TV." They mostly used the TV to watch the late news. Otherwise it was only used to watch a DVD movie.

Kate reached for the remote, turned on the TV, and began searching channels until she found something.

They both watched and slowly started to be amazed. "What's going on, Mother?" It sounded like she knew more than they did.

"Bracken has gone on a killing rampage." Martha handed the phone to Jim.

Jim announced that he had the phone now. "Hello, son."

"Jim, what's going on?" Rick saw Kate was interested now that he had said her dad's name.

"Bracken was admitted into a hospital a few days ago. The hospital refused to say much at the time. Now the news is covering a number of homicides that have taken place at the same hospital. We don't really understand it all ourselves, except that there's a manhunt for Bracken. They're talking about two deaths and eighteen people that have been injured."

"Eighteen!" Rick looked at Kate in shock. Of course, he had questions. "Do they say what he has done and are they sure it was him?"

"Depending on who you believe, it appears that he bit all of them. Tried to rip their throats out. Another channel is questioning if he's contagious and if the public has reason to be worried," Jim related.

Kate had heard most of it and reached across to snatch the phone out of Rick's hand. "Dad, call Javi and find out what he knows." She was betting he knew more than the reporters.

"He's already called us to make sure we're all right and warned us not to leave the loft. Lanie's coming over later just to make sure we're okay. Kevin may come if he has the time."

"Did they say why?" What else did he know?

"It **is** Bracken. From what we know, something has happened to him. Some kind of infection. It's like he's showing signs of an infection like from a bite or a sting of some kind or something. It's caused a rash and other changes. What they don't know is why he's running around attacking people," Jim said.

"Hang on." Kate reached for the remote again and turned up the volume. "Dad, it sounds like the State Police have found him. He's running through a mall somewhere." Kate couldn't figure out which one, though. "It looks like the news channel has a helicopter over the area. We can see people running out the doors." To Kate and Rick it looked like a flood.

"What the heck's going on?" It made no sense to her.

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Kim and Alexis arrived and exited the elevator to end up in a good-sized room with a pair of large doors across from them. Alexis headed for the doors while Kim went off to the side over to a screen on the wall. It looked like it had controls she could use.

"If that map's accurate, then what's on the other side of these doors takes up over half of this entire place? Could it be empty?" Alexis didn't understand.

"Let's find out." Kim started pressing panels, only nothing happened. "This place is pissing me off." It was time to bring in the help. "Jill…"

Alexis simply pressed the panel in front of her and watched and heard the double doors begin to open. Her mouth fell open as the lights started coming on, row after row after row. It even had her looking up.

It didn't look like Jill was getting anywhere. Stunned, Alexis croaked Kim's name since she couldn't find her voice.

"You got the doors open! Nice work!" Kim strode over to the doors and stopped in place. Her heart was in her throat and she found it was getting hard to breathe. " **NO** **!** …No, no, no, no." Kim started walking into the space. She walked past Alexis who was poking at finger at one of the bubbles. There was bubble after bubble. Every one had a naked female inside of it. Each appeared to have a mask attached to their face.

Kim was sure her chest hurt and she stepped up to one of them. Most of the face was covered but she knew who it was.

"It's a liquid." Alexis pulled her finger out and found that it was wet. How the water was being held in place boggled her mind. Alexis went back to looking at all of them. There were untold rows of them that went off into the distance. When she looked up all she saw were more bubbles. Each held a person.

"Kim!" Alexis knew how badly she had taken to finding out that there were twelve of her. This was a whole hell of a lot more than just twelve.

Kim didn't feel the tears start to roll down her cheeks. They were clones of her. Clone after clone after clone. "No," she whimpered. It wasn't possible. It was a nightmare but she was awake.

Kim was slowly walking into the space, but Alexis was rooted to the spot. Alexis couldn't begin to guess how many. Hundreds if not thousands. "Why?" Alexis didn't get it. Still she was betting Kim had to be hurting. "Kim?" Alexis took a step. It was all the farther she made it.

Kim saw something. Her mind made a connection and it scared her to death. There was only one action she knew she had to take.

" **JACK! Get her out of here** ,"Kim screamed and turned to see Alexis take a step farther into the room.

" _Program complete_ _,_ _"_ Jack announced as Kim watched Alexis vanish.

Alexis heard her yell and knew what it meant. "NOOO!" But Alexis was yelling into the empty bedroom in Kim's home.

"NO! Take me back!" Alexis demanded. She knew Kim had to be hurting and wanted to help her.

" _I_ _a_ _m sorry_ _,_ _Miss Alexis, but I cannot."_

"Yes, you can! Take me back." Alexis lifted up her arm to look at the panels. Only she didn't know what ones to press or in what order. Each jump was always just slightly different and Jack had always shown her what panels to press. Except for those that she had memorized.

"Damn it, Jack. Take me back. That's an order." Alexis wasn't staying here, Kim needed her help.

" _I_ _a_ _m sorry_ _,_ _Miss Alexis_ _,_ _but I cannot. It is my job to keep you safe."_

"Safe? What do you mean safe? There wasn't any danger!" It was just a bunch of Kim clones. How dangerous could it be?

" _Kim must have noticed the same time that my scan identified it. The station was falling into the black hole. That entire space was slowly being taken over by the gravity waves as more and more of the station was being affected._

" _If you had stayed you would have been dragged down into the black hole. You would have died."_

Alexis tried to think it through. "But it was stable. There was a null field."

" _Not anymore. That field was collapsing and allowing the station to tumble down into the black hole."_

Alexis thought about that. "But that means… NO!" It meant Kim was dead. "There has to be something… Take me back to the command center. We can reactivate the field and save her. Jack, please." Alexis could feel her tears start to fall down her cheeks.

" _I am_ _s_ _orry_ _,_ _Miss Alexis."_ The AI bowed his head. He couldn't do it. He couldn't risk it. Alexis's life was his top priority.

Alexis couldn't keep standing as her legs gave out. She crumpled to the floor and began to cry. "NO… Please." The pain was more than she could take. It was more than she could handle. "Please!"

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

Alexis was still on the floor when she finally stopped crying. Alexis went back to trying to find a way to save her friend. "You could have taken me there. You know how to get there."

" _I am sorry_ _,_ _Miss Alexis, but your safety is my primary concern."_ Jack knew he had to do it and he didn't really need for Kim to yell at him. He would have done it anyway.

Alexis went back to crying only a little more softly.

: {o} : **{:O:}** : {o} :

It had been two days. _"Miss Alexis_ _,_ _you need to eat something."_ Jack was starting to worry about her. All she did was mope around the house and not eat anything.

"I'm not hungry." The tears were gone but the depression remained. Jack needed to come up with something.

" _You should g_ _o_ _visit_ _your father and Kate. See how they are doing."_ Maybe seeing them would help.

"Dad!" Maybe Jack had something. Alexis pressed a series of panels from memory and disappeared in a flash of light.

Next she walked down the hall and knocked. When no one answered she knocked again.

Finally the door opened and she found her dad wearing an apron. "ALEXIS!" Rick was glad to see her. But Alexis walked right past him and didn't say a word.

Rick watched her walk away and he closed the door. He was filled with even more questions. Then Kate came out of the bedroom. "Alexis!" Kate was happy to see her.

They both watched as she walked into the living room and dropped onto the sofa without saying a word or looking at either of them.

Kate walked over to Rick who was frozen at the front door. "What's going on?" Kate asked in a low voice. She didn't remember Alexis ever being like this.

"I have no idea." But he was going to find out. He went over to sit next to her.

"Pumpkin?" He was full of questions and didn't get to ask a single one when suddenly Alexis broke down crying and ended up holding onto him. This was not what Rick was expecting. Kate came over to sit on the other side of her.

"What happened, pumpkin?" Rick went into daddy mode and hugged her and started circling his hand over her back.

"She's dead." Alexis buried her face into her father's chest and just kept crying. She didn't know where the tears came from. She was sure she had used them all up.

"Kim's dead? How…when?" Rick barely knew her but he had learned that Kim was the reason Kate was still alive and doing so well.

Now Alexis had a problem. Kim had died falling into a black hole and she couldn't say that. As for when, well that was another problem since it was 30 centuries from now.

"She just is." It was all Alexis could think to say.

"We're sorry, Alexis." Kate reached across to rub her arm. "We know she meant a lot to you." Kate had figured out that much. "We have a spare bedroom, you can stay as long as you need."

"Yes, as long as you need." Rick was onboard with that offer and smiled at Kate for thinking of it. "Did you bring a bag?" She was going to need clothes. Alexis shook her head since clothes didn't really matter. She had her catsuit.

"It doesn't matter, we can go shopping later. Have you eaten? I was just making dinner. Kate can eat solid food now so I'm able to cook for her. You're staying for dinner." Rick hugged her and kissed her head.

Rick retreated to the kitchen so he could get back to preparing dinner. Kate took his place and hugged her. "What happened, honey?"

Alexis knew she couldn't explain but… "We got caught in a situation and Kim sacrificed herself for me. We should both be dead, but she saved me." Jack would have but Kim beat him to it.

"Sounds like she was an amazing friend. I'm really sorry." Kate hugged her a little tighter.

"Thanks. I just wish… She shouldn't have done that. I knew the risks." Alexis didn't know what to do now.

"That's what friends are for, Alexis. It's taken me a long time to recognize that. But I get it now." Kate had spent so long doing things alone and on her terms. Now she knew different.

Kate changed topics. "Did you know Bracken's on the run?"

"No. On the run from what or who?" Kim hadn't said anything so she was in the dark.

"That's the part we don't get. They're saying he went on a rampage in the hospital that he was in. They haven't said why he was admitted, however, it seems he attacked a lot of the hospital staff. Killed one and injured several more." Good information about it was hard to come by. Most of the news had been simple speculation.

"I don't know anything about that." Alexis started to wonder if Kim was involved. But she hadn't said anything to her about him. "Has anyone found that recording yet?" Alexis had no idea where it was.

"Nothing yet. We do know that Bracken sent some men to attack Martha and my dad." Kate didn't make it any further than that.

"GRAMS! Is she alright?" Suddenly Alexis was worried about her and started to think about leaving to go see for herself.

"She's fine. So's my dad. He thinks Kim had something to do about that, but isn't sure. Javi and Kevin came and took them away. We haven't heard anything since then." No one had called them.

"DAD! What happened to Grams?" She was really thinking of going to see for herself.

"Mother's fine. Nothing happened to her. All she said was that it was exciting. Javi showed up and found two heavily injured men lying on the floor." Rick wanted to leave the kitchen but he needed to watch what he was doing or he would burn it.

"Sounds like something Kim would do." Alexis didn't understand why she hadn't said anything, though.

"So what have you been up to?" Kate inquired since Rick couldn't question her because he was busy.

Alexis brightened up a bit. "I got a job." Alexis was proud of herself. Kim had helped, of course.

"Really, doing what?" Kate asked.

"JOB! You've got a job? What about college?" Rick started to leave the kitchen only to turn back and stir what he was cooking.

"I'm still working on that." She didn't know what to do about college now. "I'm helping an M.E. It sounds exciting." Actually it was more than exciting. It was on another planet in a different century and her boss was a human adult-sized bug.

"Is it Lanie?" Kate hadn't heard anything from Lanie for a while now, so it was possible. Except Alexis was shaking her head.

"Her name is Leslie. She seems nice and the pay's pretty good." Plus she might get to buy land on an alien planet.

"When do you start?" Kate questioned.

Alexis had to think about that. She could start tomorrow if she wanted. Time wasn't a factor. "Next week. I just need to pack and move there. I still need to talk to Redd about it." She didn't know what to do about him. She had Jack so she could keep him and keep her job. But it would be difficult.

Kate brightened up. "A boyfriend?" She wanted to know everything now.

Rick heard that. "BOYFRIEND!" He fumbled what he was holding and it crashed and bounced across the kitchen floor. He chased after it and grabbed some paper towels. "What boyfriend?" This was the first he'd heard anything.

Kate apologized for opening her mouth. "I'm sorry, Alexis. Come with me." She was going to question Alexis in the bedroom. Away from Rick.

"Hey!" Rick was trapped in the kitchen and Kate was taking Alexis away to where he couldn't hear.

Kate asked her first question. "So you like him?"

"He's nice. We've only been on a few dates. He's a pilot for a cruise ship. That's where he is now. He talks about wanting to be a captain one day." He at least had a dream and was pursuing it. It was one of the things that she liked about him.

"Is he handsome?" Kate inquired.

"He's cute. He's also bald and he's…hung," Alexis confided and started to blush. Even if he was big only because of a device that Alexis had on her at the moment.

"So you two have…you **are** on the pill, right?" Kate wanted to make sure she was being careful.

"We're taking precautions. I won't get pregnant. But you should see him, he's huge. I thought sure he was going to split me in two the first time I saw him." Alexis found herself sharing more than she had planned.

Kate was simply beaming, she was so happy for her.

"How are you doing? Are the powders working? You look a lot better." Actually Alexis thought she looked a whole lot better than she remembered.

"The powders are working perfectly. We're almost out of most of them. I still don't think I look that great, but I'm feeling better." Kate thought she had a lot of weight to gain back and her breasts hadn't recovered very much as yet, either.

"I'm glad." Then Alexis saw something and lifted up Kate's hand. She didn't remember seeing this last time. Though she hadn't actually been actively looking. "Did Dad…?"

Kate smiled shyly and nodded, her cheeks blooming. "He proposed and I said yes. I can't wait to be married to him. I still can't believe how much I love him." She looked down at her hands for a moment. "Alexis, I'm really sorry for my behavior earlier about your dad. I was being stupid and I truly regret it. I'm sure you weren't happy with me and how I behaved."

"It's all right. Dad loves you more than I've ever seen him love anyone. I thought sure I had lost him after you were shot." Alexis wasn't mad at him anymore. But she still didn't like how he behaved.

Kate hugged her. "Well I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere. Your father keeps bugging me about where I want the wedding. Have you got any ideas?" Kate was willing to get her input for a choice.

Alexis had no idea. "The Hamptons house, maybe. Out on the beach, perhaps. Dad loves the ocean. Just don't do it during the late fall or winter. It can get cold there," Alexis warned.

"I'll keep that in mind." Kate hugged her again, happy that Alexis didn't hate her after all she had done to push her father away.


	31. Chapter 31

**One**

 **Chapter 31**

 **Epilogue**

Alexis walked in to start her day and heard clicking sounds. "Meet our new case." Leslie motioned to the autopsy table.

"Another one? I'm beginning to question if I'm an M.E. or a veterinarian." Alexis would laugh if it wasn't so tragic.

She heard clacking sounds. Leslie countered her thinking. "A dead body is a dead body and we aren't here just for the engineers and contractors. The colony needs our help as well. And we will provide it."

"And I'm glad to offer mine. It's just that this needs to stop. They aren't killing them for the meat. Someone's just killing for sport." That was the part that Alexis hated the most.

More clacking sounds. "I happen to agree. Which is why I'm going to go talk to our contractor and then to the mayor." She had already stated her disdain for whoever was doing the killing.

"You're not going to…?" Alexis pointed at the dead wildlife on the table.

This time it was clicking sounds. "You are more than qualified to handle this without my help, as you have demonstrated for the last year." Leslie had come to be impressed with Alexis during her time there.

"Good luck." Alexis moved over to her dead body and started organizing her tools. "Poor guy. …Or gal." She hadn't figured that out just yet. "Now let's see just what happened to you, shall we." She picked up a laser scalpel and began opening the body up a little. "As usual there's no slug, so it wasn't a primitive weapon as Kim would call it. That just leaves laser, plasma, or something else. The security teams for the contractors all use plasma, however, all the colonists have are lasers. And since these and all of the other wounds are precise, I'm going to say laser." That meant it was a colonist to her. And since there were more of them than the contractors it didn't lower the pool of suspects down much.

Then Alexis had an idea. "Jack, are there differences in lasers? Would one produce a different wound than another? I seem to remember that lasers at home had different sources of what produced them." Maybe that would help; she started kicking herself for never asking.

" _You are correct. There are solid state, excimer, gas, dye_ _,_ _and semiconductor. Each will produce a different result. You have already tested and found that chlorine, fluorine, argon, krypton_ _,_ _and xenon are not present. That will eliminate gas and excimer."_

Alexis suddenly saw Jack show himself and he was dancing with a huge smile on his face. A voice Alexis knew well but hadn't heard in a long time said, "I would guess solid state, myself."

Alexis's scalpel dropped from her nerveless fingers and she turned to look in stunned amazement. She launched herself at Kim, wrapped her arms around her and began crying. "Oh, my god, **KIM!** You're alive!" Alexis refused to let go of her and couldn't stop ugly crying.

"I'm a little surprised myself, to be honest." Kim didn't want to think about what she had had to go through to get here. She was still being hugged tightly. "You planning on letting go?"

Alexis shook her head. "No," she sobbed. "…you might disappear on me again."

"I'm not sorry I had Jack take you away. Though I'm betting that he's already told you that he would have done it without my yelling at him." Kim had faith in him.

Alexis's breath hitched. "Yeah, he did, but that didn't make it better." Using both hands she wiped the tears from her face then snagged a handful of tissues to mop beneath her runny nose. "So… Your place?" Alexis wanted to talk and learn everything that had happened to her friend.

A couple of flashes later and they were standing next to the pool that was empty. Kim looked around. "It hasn't changed much."

"It's yours, why would it change? So what happened? Why aren't you…" Alexis hated the word _dead,_ especially when it came to her best friend.

"Dead? That's a not so funny story. Is there any wine left?" Kim was going to need a drink first. Alexis nodded and hurried off to get a couple bottles, knowing it might take more than one to get through her story.

"Starting at the beginning." Kim sat down and sipped her wine. "I saw a wall, if you will, headed for me…us really. It was like a wave and I just knew what it was."

"The null field." Alexis wasn't guessing.

Kim nodded. "The station was starting to go over the event edge of the black hole and get sucked in. I knew it would crush it and everything and everyone. My first thought was you. I couldn't allow you to stay." She wasn't sorry she had done what she had done.

"You should have let me stay, damn it. I knew the risks. I was so mad at Jack I started thinking of how to get him off my arm." She glared at her. "Losing you hurt, Kim. It hurt a lot. I was so very angry." Alexis was beginning to remember just how mad and was getting pissed again.

"I'm still not sorry and I did miss having you around. It was lonely for a while there," Kim admitted.

"A while?" Alexis was perplexed. Who had shown up to join her?

"Well, I did have 22,202 clones of me to keep me company."

"Twenty two…thousand!" Jack had never told her just how many clones there were.

"And two hundred and two. Though all of them are still in their bubbles so the conversations were a little one sided," Kim chuckled lightly. Alexis smiled a little.

"So how did you escape? Nothing escapes a black hole." Alexis was pretty sure of that.

"You want the long story or the short one?"

"Both, but start with the short." Alexis wanted answers she could learn exactly how later.

"After you were gone I had to run to the other side of the wave before Jill could get me back up to the command deck. I'd like to take all of the credit but Jill did all of the work." Kim gave credit where credit was due.

"We found that the station had a fail-safe that we'd tripped without knowing it. It was such a small subroutine that neither Jill nor Jack noticed it. It turned off the null field in stages so that the power change didn't get noticed. The station started moving toward the black hole little by little. The clone storage happened to be the closest so it was affected first, which is why I noticed it.

"Jill worked fast and managed to restore the null field, but it took time to get back on the other side of the event horizon." Kim was actually impressed at what Jill had managed to do.

"It took **time**? I thought you were **dead** for a whole year!" Alexis was bordering on being furious.

"Oh, no. Yes, it took a few months to undo what it had only taken a few hours to do. But, no. The rest of the time was taken moving the station to a new location." It was a station not a space ship.

"Move, as in it's not next to a black hole any more?" How was that possible? Alexis saw Kim smile softly and point to the sky. Alexis looked up, not understanding. Then her eyes opened wide. "NO! You mean it's up…" She pointed skyward.

"In orbit? Yep. It and every clone that's on it. Took a little while to get here." Kim hadn't liked that part much.

"So you didn't kill them?" Alexis meant the clones. She watched her friend shake her head. "O-K-A-Y." Had she made that much of an impression on her? "Did you find the time machine? Did you learn why?" She really wanted to know the last one.

"I did both, actually. That massive cone is, in fact, the time machine. Even Jill hasn't yet figured out how it works and you wouldn't believe the amount of power it would take to run it." Kim rolled her eyes and it had Alexis grinning since it mimicked what Kate did exactly. "As to who and why? I found that out, too." Kim had blown a fuse after Jill had found everything. Alexis sat there and glared at her, waiting impatiently for her to give.

"Hold onto yourself. There are actually two more stations filled with clones," Kim began.

"TWO!" Alexis couldn't believe that. Just what the hell was going on? "How many yous are there?" And what was Kim going to do with all of them?

"There are actually 66,606 of me. Each station holds the same amount. Though not each station has a time machine. Just this one." Kim had been happy about that.

"Sixty-six thousand six hundred and six of you! …Why?" What were they going to do with that many Kims?

Kim gave her a clue. "You remember that I was the head of security for the corporate headquarters."

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? They don't need that many to capture a city, do they?" Was that place that protected? "Does someone hate your corporation that much?"

"No, but you're close." Kim was impressed again. "They **are** planning on a hostile take over. A complete hostile take over that will take place in a really short space of time. Apparently they had me for longer than I thought. They had every access code and secret I know about the Choam corporation."

Alexis's mouth fell open. "All that so they could take down your company?" The 51st century really was different. "All right, you know who and I'm guessing you know when. So what now?" What was Kim planning to do?

"Next? Next I'm going to start a war. All 66,606 of us. I just need to get my hands on the other two stations, arm all my clones, and then I'm going to bring hell to them. They're going to learn that they have messed with the wrong woman." Kim was going to make them suffer.

Kim was back and Alexis didn't want to lose her again. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Kim at first thought of saying no. Then she thought maybe. But Alexis was her best friend and she could tell that Alexis hadn't taken her supposed death well. "Let me get the other two stations and start arming the clones. I'll let you know."

Alexis pointed at her. "You better. Don't have me use Jack to find you and hunt you down." Alexis was determined to help one way or another.

"There will be combat and likely a lot of killing." Kim had plans to do a lot of damage.

"I have a weapon that I haven't used yet. I have lots of stun charges left in it." She still had no intention of killing anyone, but that didn't mean she couldn't stun everyone who got in the way.

That got Kim out of her chair to hug Alexis. "I've missed you." Kim was ready to start crying.

"I've missed you, too." Alexis beat her to it and started to softly cry while hugging her back.

"Come with me. You should see Kate now. She looks so much better. She and Dad are so happy." Alexis suddenly had an idea and then another thought. "What about the clones we didn't go in search of?" There were more Kims out there somewhere.

"I gave up on those and blame you for that." Kim had had every intention of killing them.

Alexis raised her arms in victory, earning a glare from Kim. "Race you to Dad and Kate." Alexis lifted her arm, pressed the panels from memory, and vanished in a flash of light. She only had to wait a moment before Kim arrived at the door to the Manhattan loft in her own flash of light.

Alexis held up her hand to knock when Kim stopped her. "What about Redd? Are you still seeing him?"

Alexis let her head drop forward and that told Kim a lot. "We broke up. I realized that I liked him mostly because of his color and because of the size of his cock. I didn't actually love him for him."

Her response pleased Kim. Alexis had grown up a lot in the last year. Then she noticed something else. "I told you that you would grow."

Alexis smiled; she placed her hands under her breasts and lifted them a little. "Yeah, to be honest it was Jack that noticed first."

"And you said cock without any hesitation. You've changed in the last year." Kim liked it.

"Yeah, a few less body issues." Alexis felt better about herself. Kim hugged her.

"Come on, you should see Kate." Alexis smiled and knocked. She knocked twice before the door opened. "Hi, Kate!" Alexis had never been this happy and it showed.

"A-lex…is?" Kate was happy to see her but hadn't expected who she'd brought with her.

"Kate, this is Kim." Alexis kind of liked the look of utter surprise on Kate's face.

Kim knew her mouth had fallen open as she looked Kate up and down. Kate was still very conscious about how she looked and placed a hand on her belly.

Kate watched both of them enter; still taken aback, she closed the door. "Alexis?" She wanted an explanation.

"She didn't die. Isn't that great!" Alexis was still so very happy. "Where's Dad?" Alexis didn't see him.

"He's…he's out shopping. Something about wanting to find one more thing for the baby. I didn't think we needed anything more but he wouldn't listen." Kate actually found his enthusiasm a good thing. She was into the _I'm tired of being pregnant_ phase of her pregnancy.

Kim followed Alexis into the living room and sat down next to her, waiting for Kate. "You're what, seven, maybe eight months along?" Kim guessed.

"Tomorrow will be 7 months and 2 weeks." Kate placed a hand on her belly as she sat down. "So, what happened?" As in how was she alive?

"I got lucky. I still have a challenge ahead of me so I can't celebrate just yet." She did have an advantage though so she felt good about the outcome.

To be honest Kim found it strange to see herself pregnant. "I see you've recovered from when you were taken."

Kate still had a hand on her belly. "Yeah, I hear I have you to thank for that. The shots and the powders and other things. I was a mess and sure that I would never be my old self. Castle has been great, too." She knew she couldn't have done it alone.

"Can I ask?" Kate was full of questions.

"You can ask, just don't expect a lot of answers. I really would like to answer your questions, but there's just too much at stake. It isn't just your life that's at stake. It's a lot bigger than you think," Kim said.

Alexis added her voice. "I wish we could, Kate. Just be happy with the result." It was something Kate could live with, she just wished she could know more.

"Have you decided on a name?" Kim inquired.

"Lilly, we've settled on Lilly. I know Castle is going to call her Lilly pad, but one or both will grow out of it." She was betting that Lilly would grow out of it before Rick did, if ever.

"A girl." Kim liked the thought of having a little girl. "I'm happy for you. I've never thought of having a family and with what is coming, not sure if I ever will." She had thousands of clones and thought that was more than enough. She didn't need kids.

"Never say never," Alexis cautioned, using her own words against her.

Kim laughed then changed the topic. "So what happened to Bracken?"

"We don't know. One day he was in the news seemingly being hunted by everyone and then, nothing. I'm told we have you to thank for finding out it was him." Kate still didn't understand how her twin knew so much.

"I have a few friends. They're very helpful. I've learned the hard way that no one person can do everything." Kim felt Jill softly shocking her.

"If you two will excuse me. I'm finding that being pregnant means constant trips to the bathroom." Kate struggled to extract herself from the sofa and moved toward the bathroom just off the master bedroom. What Kim had said resonated with her and how she had lead her life up until the most recent fight to stay alive.

Kim waited until Kate was long gone. "Yes, Jill?"

" _You should look at the elephant sculpture on the table. There is something inside it that I have scanned_ _._ _Kate will want it."_

"I don't remember that being here." Alexis leaned over to pick it up and examine it.

Alexis was still turning it around in her hands when Kate came back. "That was my mother's. I found it again in the stuff that my dad had saved for me. It used to be on my desk in the precinct." She was thankful that her dad had saved almost everything that was hers.

Alexis was still examining with it when a piece fell off and something fell onto the floor. She put the elephants back on the table, picked up the piece, and what had fallen out. The look on Kate's face told both of them that she didn't know that it had been in there.

"I think Dad has an old dictation recorder." Alexis laid the tape on the table and went into his study to search for it.

Kate picked up the tape, sat down, and studied it. "That might be the recording you were looking for," Kim remarked.

Kate still didn't understand. Why was her mother even involved in any of this? Just what was on this tape that would get her killed?

Alexis was back. She took the tape from Kate, put it in the machine, and pressed the button.

They all listened to it. "That's Roy. What's he doing on this tape?" Kate was lost.

They heard Bracken talk about having Kate's mother killed to silence her. It still left Kate in the dark as to why her mother had to die, but she finally had proof that her mother had been murdered and that Bracken had ordered it.

Tears continued to roll down Kate's cheeks when the front door opened. "I got it!" Rick was happy with himself. "Alexis!" Rick's eyes lit up and he smiled widely when he saw that his daughter was home. "Kim?" That she was there was a huge surprise. Hadn't Alexis said that she was dead? Then he saw Kate. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?" He dropped his shopping bag and rushed to Kate's side.

He placed a hand on her belly, worried about both her and their baby. "We found the recording, babe. Bracken talks about having my mother killed." After all this time and everything she had been though, she finally had what she wanted most. She had her mother's killer, she had Castle, and she had a family. She wasn't married yet but that was coming up fast. Just a few more weeks. She wanted to be married and didn't care if she walked down the aisle just as she gave birth.

Kate looked at Castle and couldn't stop the tears. Finally, it was over.


End file.
